Drunk Driver Kills Cop Last Day Before Retirement

Sergeant David Elahi was killed by a drunk driver.

Early Sunday morning a DUI driver struck Sterlington Police Department Sergeant David Elahi shortly after 4:30 AM. Sterlington was on a traffic stop with another vehicle when he was struck by the DUI driver. Our sources tell us that Sergeant Elahi was working his last shift before retirement, and had had planned on starting a new career in real estate.

Two other officers were also injured in the collision with the DUI driver, and those officers have been released from the hospital.

I want to ask all of the other officers who read this page; aren’t you tired of drunk drivers killing our brothers and sisters? Sergeant David Elahi is the fourth officer to be killed by a DUI driver in the past month alone. Despite this, many officers continue to avoid DUI arrests.

We know that there’s a lot of excessive paperwork. Most jurisdictions burden officers with hours of additional paperwork and processes for any DUI arrest. That’s not even counting the police officers who need to call a judge in the middle of the night to apply for a blood draw warrant.

DUIs generally take hours. During that time, many agencies are slammed with calls and understaffed. Nobody wants to be the guy who gets a DUI arrest, and then leaves their shift partners stuck handling all of their calls. Nobody want their supervisor breathing down their neck to get back on the street to handle calls.

It’s so much easier just to not stop the car that didn’t stop at a stop sign, or the driver who you do stop and talks to you without slurring even though you smell alcohol. We know that most DUI drivers make it home safe, but we also know that some of them kill people. If your department has a problem with you taking the time to arrest a drunk driver, show them how many officers have been killed by these drunks.

Maybe you don’t feel comfortable slogging through the DUI process. You can at least try. If you do a poor job, then maybe they will win in court, but you got them off the road and still sent a message that driving drunk will result in an arrest and legal/tow fees.

Next time you stop someone who’s been drinking, take the time to investigate. We don’t need a fifth officer to die this month because of a drunk driver, and we don’t need anybody else to lose their loved ones.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Sergeant David Elahi.