Sunport May Join DWI Fight; Workers Could Get Training on Now to Spot Drunken Passengers

Airport employees could be getting some training on how to spot inebriated people at the airport - knowledge intended to help head them off before they get into a car and drive.

City Aviation Police Chief Marshall Katz raised the idea of a having an agency official attend alcohol serving classes. The state-mandated classes are required of those who sell or serve alcohol.

Aviation Police, Katz said, could then use that knowledge to educate airport employees during their airport security training classes.

He envisioned it as a "hybrid, compressed version" of alcohol servers training - "being aware of alcoholism or maybe those inebriated."

"Everybody likes that idea," Katz said Wednesday. "It may be a new training tool that we can incorporate on a regular basis."

The idea came up during a recent meeting among Albuquerque airport, Aviation Police and state Department of Public Safety Special Investigations Division representatives.

It also came amid a report that an airline passenger was arrested for driving while intoxicated not too long after arriving at the Sunport, according to a criminal complaint.

Ernest Hall of Davenport, Wash., was charged with aggravated DWI. He was stopped about 8:30 p.m. May 22 on the 2000 block of Menaul NE.

A University of New Mexico police commander saw Hall's car swerving, with severe front-end damage, a blown-out front tire, and debris falling off the vehicle, reads a report.

Police said Hall had bloodshot, watery eyes and smelled of alcohol. He told police he flew in from Tucson on Southwest Airlines. Hall said he had one alcoholic drink on the flight - a gin and tonic.

"Hall stated he picked up his vehicle from a park and shuttle business. Hall stated his vehicle collided with an unknown object as he was driving but he was not sure what he hit," the report reads.

The police report states Hall's breath alcohol content test level was higher than 0.16.

Katz said Hall arrived at the Tucson airport at noon for a flight that left at 5:20 p.m. It took 56 minutes to get from gate to gate, Katz said.

"That's almost seven hours," Katz said about the time spent in Tucson waiting for the flight and the time spent in Albuquerque after landing. "What happened in that time period? I don't know."

The serving of alcoholic beverages to airline passengers has received increased attention following the multiple death crash caused by Dana Papst in November.

The Tesuque resident, who had been drinking on a flight before it arrived in Albuquerque, drove the wrong way on Interstate 25 and crashed into another vehicle, killing five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family. Papst also was killed as a result of the crash.

And earlier this month, authorities found that airline passenger Ernest Wright had at least three drinks at the Reno, Nev., airport and two at the Phoenix airport before being served two shots of vodka on a US Airways flight to Albuquerque. Wright was stopped at a DWI checkpoint about 25 minutes after leaving the Sunport.

US Airways was cited for serving alcohol to an intoxicated person in the Papst and Wright cases.

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