Cop charged with drunken driving keeps license

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Despite refusing to take a sobriety test after he was stopped by authorities while off duty, a Vancouver police officer did not have his driver's license suspended as state law requires.

Under Washington's implied consent law, refusing a sobriety test means an automatic driver's license suspension pending a hearing.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office calls it a paperwork mistake.

An investigation determined that a relatively new records clerk hadn't been sending drunken driving records to Washington's department of licensing as the law requires, the sheriff's office said. And thus the state didn't receive the report on Young's refusal after the traffic stop, which occurred in August.

A sheriff's office spokesman said that officials began reviewing reports to get to the bottom of the problem after receiving inquiries from the media on the issue.

He blamed it all on human error.

"Certainly it looks bad in this particular instance because of the situation, the case," said Sgt. Tim Bieber. "And we understand how that looks."

In the meantime, officials with Washington's department of  licensing said their authority to suspend the officer's license has run out.