NBC Connecticut Investigates has obtained video from inside the bar where a Connecticut State trooper was drinking before a drunk driving crash.
Sgt. John McDonald was charged with driving drunk and injuring a Middlebury mother and daughter on September 25, 2019.
He pled no contest to the charges against him in May.
He’s currently serving probation and is still on the state payroll.
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The video gives a better look into what happened before the crash.
The surveillance video is from inside the Black Hog Brewing Company in Oxford where police say McDonald had been celebrating at a fellow trooper’s retirement party.
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The state released the video through a Freedom of Information Act request now that McDonald has been convicted. Police cited this video as key evidence in McDonald’s arrest warrant.
State officials said McDonald left the hospital on his own before he could be breathalyzed.
From what investigators saw in this video, they wrote in the arrest warrant that, “McDonald consumed what appears to be at least eight (8) alcoholic beverages” between 2:19 p.m. and 5:13 p.m.
In the report, investigators said he’s later seen ordering what appears to be five more drinks, but it’s unclear what was done with them since he takes them outside.
And just before 7 p.m. that night, McDonald almost walks into a table before he exits, as is seen in the surveillance video and referred to in the arrest warrant.
Just before 7:30 p.m., police received 911 calls reporting the crash.
McDonald will be on probation for two years and the operating under the influence charge with be wiped from his record when he completes an alcohol education program.
The two women injured in the crash filed a lawsuit against McDonald that’s still pending.
McDonald’s lawyer in that civil case said his client is sorry for the pain and stress he has caused the family.
McDonald has been on desk duty since he was suspended in 2019 and is still awaiting a disciplinary hearing, almost three months after his conviction.
State Police said that disposition is pending his administrative investigation and must be done by the Office of Labor Relations in conjunction with the collective bargaining agreement.
