Wichita police officer is facing DUI charge in Goddard

A Wichita police officer has been charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence and faces a February court appearance, a Goddard police official said Friday.

Goddard police Lt. Lance Beagley confirmed that the man arrested – on U.S. 54 in October – is Brent Lee Woodard and that Woodard is a Wichita police officer.

Woodard couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Woodard was arrested at 10:28 p.m. Oct. 19 at 23100 W. U.S. 54 in Goddard and booked into jail, according to a Goddard police report and jail records.

The police report says that alcohol use was suspected and that a juvenile was a witness. The juvenile was not in the vehicle driven by Woodard, who was alone in the vehicle, Beagley said. At the time of his arrest, Woodard was not in uniform and not in a police vehicle, Beagley said.

He said he couldn’t disclose what the initial suspicion was that caused the Goddard officer to stop Woodard.

The case was presented to Goddard city prosecutors, and Woodard faces a Feb. 14 first court appearance on the misdemeanor DUI charge, Beagley said.

Wichita police Capt. Doug Nolte said Friday that he is limited in what he can say at this time about Woodard: That his current rank is officer, that he has been with the department since 1996 and that he has been assigned to administrative duties while the criminal and internal investigations take place.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Wichita police officer is facing DUI charge in Goddard."