Midwest pilot suspected of drinking committed no crime

Article by: Paul Walsh , Star Tribune
Updated: November 20, 2007 - 6:50 PM

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A Midwest Airlines pilot arrested at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of drinking had a blood-alcohol level within both the legal limit and his employer's standard for flying, his attorney and the airline said Tuesday.

Airport police decided Tuesday afternoon to not seek charges against the 46-year-old pilot because there "wasn't evidence that a crime occurred," said airport spokesman Pat Hogan.

The pilot was arrested on the afternoon of Nov. 12 at the Humphrey Terminal as he prepared the plane for takeoff to Milwaukee, Hogan said. He was detained, given a breath-alcohol test and released after a little more than three hours, Hogan said. The pilot cooperated fully with airport police, Hogan said.

Airline spokesman Michael Brophy said that the pilot had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.016 and not the 0.16 that KSTP-TV reported Monday night.

"The damaging part," Brophy said, was that the television station said the reading was "twice the legal limit [to drive] ... That was false."

The pilot's attorney, Arthur Martinez, of Minneapolis, said his client's alcohol level was 0.01, "if anything." Martinez added that the pilot did not violate any airline rules or laws about time refraining from drinking before flying.

Now, Martinez said, he is considering his legal options against KSTP.

"The bottom line is, how do we make our client whole?" Martinez said. "They put his name and picture out there -- dumb and dumber."

Brophy said his airline requires pilots to refrain from consuming alcohol for 10 hours before flying and have an alcohol reading of no more than 0.02. He said the federal standards are eight hours and 0.04.

PAUL WALSH