2 Oakland police officers were arrested for on-duty DUIs last year

Oct 19, 2024

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The Oaklandside has learned that two OPD officers were arrested last year in separate incidents for drinking and driving on the job, according to court records.

The arrests, previously unreported, came to light recently when the Alameda County district attorney’s office filed charges.

Officer Nathaniel Walker was allegedly drunk while working an OPD patrol shift on June 30, 2023. Two California Highway Patrol officers were called to OPD headquarters in downtown Oakland and asked to conduct a DUI evaluation of Walker.

“I observed objective signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication,” a CHP officer wrote in a report. Walker was arrested. He was charged on June 21, 2024 with driving under the influence of alcohol. The case is pending.

According to court records, the incident is not the first time Walker has been arrested for a suspected DUI. Three months before his arrest at OPD headquarters, on Mar. 31, 2023 at 1:49 in the morning, two CHP officers were monitoring traffic on the southbound side of I-880 when they spotted a white Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling at 97 mph. They pulled the vehicle over in San Leandro, and according to a police report the driver, Walker, told them he was a police officer.

According to the CHP officers, “Walker displayed signs of alcohol intoxication upon contact, including red and water eyes, his speech was slow and slurred, and there was an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath and person.”

Walker told the CHP officers that he “had recently got off work and was driving home,” and that’s why he was speeding. The CHP officers arrested Walker and he was charged by the district attorney. This case is also still pending.

Walker’s attorney Don Nobles didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

The Oakland Police Department confirmed that when Walker was arrested for the second DUI in June of last year he was working patrol. He was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. “This is an ongoing personnel matter. OPD is unable to provide further details at this time,” a department spokesperson wrote in an email.

The second alleged on-duty DUI involved Officer Trevor Harley. On Oct. 8, 2023, Harley was working a patrol shift at 3 a.m. when he pulled up next to two other OPD officers who were sitting in another vehicle. The two officers “observed [Harley] to have bloodshot watery eyes, staggered gait, and a strong odor of alcohol” as he spoke, according to a police report. Harley “admitted to drinking alcohol prior to driving,” an OPD officer wrote about Harley before arresting him.

Harley did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.

Other OPD officers have recently been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, most of them off duty, however.

In August, Officer Eduardo Arrizon was involved in a suspicious incident in which his truck was seen driving erratically in East Oakland before it crashed. A man got out and fled the scene on foot. Arrizon later called OPD to report that he was the victim of a carjacking. In 2018, Arrizon was arrested while allegedly driving over 100 mph while drunk.

Another unnamed OPD officer was placed on administrative leave in February after he crashed his Tesla on I-80 in Fairfield.

OPD offers round-the-clock wellness services to its officers to assist with mental health and substance abuse problems. “The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program provides culturally competent services to address addiction,” according to the city’s website. “The Wellness Unit has established relationships with first responder treatment programs to provide the best care for our officers.”

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Before joining The Oaklandside as News Editor, Darwin BondGraham was a freelance investigative reporter covering police and prosecutorial misconduct. He has reported on gun violence for The Guardian and was a staff writer for the East Bay Express. He holds a doctorate in sociology from UC Santa Barbara and was the co-recipient of the George Polk Award for local reporting in 2017. He is also the co-author of The Riders Come Out at Night, a book examining the Oakland Police Department's history of corruption and reform.