TEXARKANA -- A former Waldo police chief was arrested Sunday by a Texas Parks and Wildlife officer in Bowie County, Texas.
Robert Eugene Philson, 52, was stopped after game warden Shawn Hervey said he observed him speeding in a white passenger car in the wrong direction on Farm to Market Road 989, according to a probable-cause affidavit. Philson crossed the center and fog lines of the road while driving the wrong way and made a wide turn onto Farm to Market 2516, the affidavit said.
Hervey pulled Philson over on George Thomas road after watching him drive erratically according to the affidavit. Hervey's report described Philson as smelling strongly of alcohol with slurred speech and red, watery eyes. Philson allegedly told Hervey he was leaving his daughter's graduation and had consumed a beer.
When Hervey asked him to get out of the car, Philson allegedly stumbled and fell against the sedan, according the affidavit.
"Mr. Philson then informed me he was the police chief for Waldo, Ark.," the affidavit stated.
Philson was fired by the Waldo mayor in January 2015 for unknown reasons.
Hervey found a spilled cup of ice next to an open, partially consumed bottle of brandy in the floorboard behind the driver's seat, according to the affidavit. Philson was unable and/or unwilling to perform field sobriety tests at the site of the traffic stop, the affidavit said.
"Mr. Philson continued to state he was a police officer and he always just gave officers a ride home," the affidavit said. "Mr. Philson then changed his story to he was retired from Waldo P.D. and is now was a special investigator with the state of Arkansas at the local ADC (Arkansas Department of Correction) unit in Texarkana. Throughout the contact with Philson he tried to use his position as police officer or investigator to influence our decision on whether to arrest him."
Philson failed to cooperate when officers attempted to administer a breath test after his arrest for driving while intoxicated and a violation of Texas law that prohibits open containers of alcohol in a moving vehicle, according to the affidavit. Both offenses are misdemeanors.
State Desk on 05/26/2017