Asleep at the patrol car wheel? Photos of cop under investigation

The Wichita Police Department says it will investigate two photos that show what appears to be an officer in uniform sleeping in the driver’s seat of a parked patrol vehicle.

The department won’t provide the name of the officer in the photos, department spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said Monday afternoon.

The Eagle received the photos in an e-mail sent anonymously Sunday. The Eagle provided copies of the photos to the police department, seeking comment.

Any information that would indicate when the photos were taken had been removed from the images before The Eagle received them. The Eagle is not publishing the photos while questions linger about their authenticity, how recent the photos are and whether they were taken in a public place.

On its website, the Police Department has a Professional Conduct regulation that states: “All members of the Department shall remain awake while on-duty, or shall report their inability to do so to a supervisor.”

One of the photos shows a man wearing a uniform with a Wichita Police Department patch on the sleeve, head tilted forward, mouth open, eyes closed. The other image shows the same officer with his head back, mouth open, eyes closed.

An emergency light bar is visible atop the vehicle. Trees with yellow leaves are visible in the background. The driver’s window appears to be down, and the sun is shining in through the back window.

They are close-up images of the officer, whose badge number can be read when the image is slightly enlarged. The officer is wearing a body camera.

Hans Asmussen, senior chief lodge steward with the Fraternal Order of Police, said Monday night: “We have confidence that the Police Department will investigate the matter and come up with the appropriate resolution after finding out all the facts.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Asleep at the patrol car wheel? Photos of cop under investigation."