On-Call KY ACO Charged with DUI

~ YesBiscuit

Take a look at the And-For-My-Next-Trick-I’ll-Jump-Through-These Rings-of-Fire adoption application required to save a pet from being killed by the Scott Co pound in KY.  The last question on the form is:

Would you allow a home visit by a representative of the Scott County Animal Shelter?

See, the Scott Co ACO must judge you. To see if you are good enough to save a homeless pet from going to the landfill.

Scott Co ACO Leitha Burton was on-call Monday night when she took the county AC truck home with her.  But instead of responding to emergency animal calls that night, ACO Burton allegedly got drunk and her truck smashed into two vehicles and a house on her street, causing over $30,000 in damages.

When police arrived at the crash scene, they reportedly found ACO Burton alone:

Police say Burton was charged with DUI because she admitted to drinking and driving, and because she smelled of an alcoholic beverage and was unsteady on her feet.

While ACO Burton reportedly admitted to drinking and driving the county truck shortly before the crash, she claimed another woman had been driving at the time of the crash and that the driver had run away before police arrived.  Police are investigating.  Meantime, it’s business as usual in Scott Co:

Scott County Judge-Executive George Lusby says Burton won’t be disciplined without a conviction and her use of county property will be examined.

Any adoption applicants volunteering to have ACO Burton drive over to their house to pass judgement on them?

(Thank you Clarice for the link.)

8 thoughts on “On-Call KY ACO Charged with DUI”

  1. Wow. The company I work for has vehicles for employee use. No one driving a vehicle is allowed to text while behind the wheel – if they are seen doing it, it’s grounds for immediate dismissal.

    But hey, in Scott County, you can get sloshed, hit a few cars and a house, and they’ll have a good long think about whether or not you should be driving the truck with THEIR name plastered all over it.

    And – she was ON CALL. Don’t they require you to be functional when you’re on call? Damn.

    What does she have to do to get fired? Actually hit people with the county vehicle in front of a live news crew?

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  2. Agreed Mikken! It’s county citizen property – they should be outraged! And this quote “Burton was on-call that evening. Scott County Judge-Executive George Lusby says Burton won’t be disciplined without a conviction and her use of county property will be examined.” In both counties I was Director of our policy was that if ANYONE except the employee was found operating county property it was grounds for dismissal. ANY alcohol consumed while operating any county equipment was immediate dismissal. Oh Yeah Kentucky – let’s have ACO Burton pass judgement on possible adopters…right…

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  3. It seems she has multiple previous arrests – one for throwing bottles at mounted police officers (and their horses) and fighting with them when they tried to stop her – but she got hired to pass judgement on others and *supposedly* work with defenseless animals. It sounds as if she won’t get in trouble for this incident either, but just in case she does, I’m sure she could get a job at MAS with ease.

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    1. From the update linked by Clarice:

      Burton had claimed that night that a friend had driven the Animal Control truck into Mike Barker’s house at 123 E. Showalter Drive, across the street from Burton’s residence as listed on police and jail records.

      “It looks like that’s not true,” Swanigan said about Burton’s alibi.

      The continuing investigation has uncovered indications that Burton was seen driving the Animal Control truck when it hit Barker’s house, Swanigan said.

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