A Southwest Airlines pilot was pulled out of a cockpit and was detained on allegations that he tried to fly the plane drunk.
According to a Chatham County Police Department report, David Allsop was minutes from take off as captain of Flight 3772 from Savannah to Chicago when airport police confronted him on the jet bridge at Gate 2 at around 6 a.m. on January 15.
In the now-released video, when asked if he had been drinking recently, Allsop said "10 hours ago" he had had "a few beers," police body camera footage showed.
"Define a few beers?" Officer Josiah Best repeatedly asked, to which the pilot replied, "Like three, Light beer, Miller Lite."
Furthermore, the 53-year-old refused to provide consent for a field sobriety test, noting that "there's no need."
"I can smell an odour consistent with an alcoholic beverage," Best responded.
Following that, Allsop took a nicotine pouch out of his mouth, dropped it, picked it up and showed it to Best and his partner.
"Additionally, I observed that Mr Allsop had bloodshot, watery eyes and a flushed complexion," Best noted in his report.
Allsop eventually consented to field sobriety tests, and he struggled to follow the tip of a moving pen and to stand on one leg and was arrested on a charge of DUI.
In an official statement on Friday, August 15, the airline shared that he "was removed from duty immediately after the alleged incident and is no longer employed by Southwest Airlines."
David Chaiken, David Allsop's defence lawyer, insisted that the video footage shows no evidence of his client being impaired and that the proper procedures were not followed that led to his arrest.
