OFF-DUTY DEPUTY CHARGED WITH DUI

WEST PALM BEACH — A veteran Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputy was arrested early Monday after he was found passed out and allegedly intoxicated in the middle of Belvedere Road in suburban West Palm Beach, according to a sheriff ’s report.

Alvin J. Herman, a deputy since May 2000, is facing a charge of DUI. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on his own recognizance about six hours after his arrest.

Deputies responded to the intersection of Belvedere Road and North Military Trail at about midnight Sunday and found Herman sleeping behind the wheel of an unidentified vehicle that was stopped in the middle eastbound lane of Belvedere. Herman was not in his patrol car, PBSO spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

Herman, 44, had bloodshot eyes, droopy eyelids and an odor of alcohol coming from his breath, and he was forced to lean against his vehicle to maintain his balance, the report said.

“I’m good,” he told a deputy. Herman was unable to complete roadside sobriety tests, including failing to recite the alphabet by “misplacing letters and skipping backward,” the report said.

A breath test revealed Herman’s blood alcohol level to be as high as .144. The legal threshold for intoxication is .08.

Herman works in the civil division of the sheriff ’s office, with duties that include delivering court summonses, Barbera said. He is on paid administrative leave.

Before joining PBSO, Herman worked for Boynton Beach police for one year beginning in December 2005. Herman’s employment with Boynton police was terminated after he failed his one-year probation because he needed close supervision, didn’t pay attention to details and didn’t know the law, according to his personnel file.

Herman was one of eight black police officers who sued Boynton Beach police in 1997 claiming supervisors ignored their complaints of racism and handed out harsher punishments to black officers. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Herman joined the Pahokee Police Department in February 1997 and remained there until April 2000. He joined PBSO the next month.