CEDAR CITY, Utah - A Cedar City police officer faces DUI charges after crashing in his patrol vehicle earlier this week. Witnesses told police the officer had children in the car at the time of the crash.
Officer Jed Prisby Imlay was arrested Monday evening. Witnesses called police after they allegedly saw a patrol car crash into a small retaining wall at a local park.
“They had the description of the car, and my sergeant checked on it and realized it was one of ours,” said Cedar City Police Chief Bob Allinson.
Cedar City officers followed up on those witness statements and found Imley at his home. Allinson said the damage to his vehicle matched the description given by those witnesses. Officers called in the Utah Highway Patrol to investigate.
“Our protocol, our procedure is to ask an outside agency to come in and investigate it,” Allinson said.
Cedar City police will also do an internal investigation to determine disciplinary action. UHP said in a statement initial investigations revealed Imlay was under the influence, and troopers booked him into the Washington County Jail on suspicion of DUI and fleeing the scene of an accident.
UHP also said the Iron County Attorney’s Office will turn the case over to an outside prosecuting agency to avoid conflict of interest.
Allinson said Imlay has worked for the department for nine years, so the allegations come as a shock.
“He’s performed a great service to the community,” Allinson said. “So when you hear something like this, it’s a disappointment.”
Imlay was booking into jail Monday evening, and, according to jail records, posted bail Tuesday night.
