Claims He Was Falsely Arrested In Rapid City, SD

A SkyWest pilot has sued the Rapid City, SD Police Department over an incident which occurred in October, 2016 in which he was arrested for suspicion of attempting to fly and airplane while intoxicated.

The blog Live and Let Fly reports that the pilot, Russell Duszak arrived at Rapid City Regional Airport (KRAP) at 0800 local time to pilot a Delta Connection flight to Salt Lake City. On his way to the gate, multiple TSA officers said they smelled alcohol on Duszak's breath.

The pilot was removed from the cockpit and a field sobriety test was administered, including a Breathalizer test. His Blood Alcohol Level came back at 0.046. The legal limit is 0.040. He demanded that a blood test, but was refused.

In his report, Rapid City Police Lieutenant Mark Eisenbraun wrote:  "I told him it was not our intention to proceed with any state charges however I warned him there would likely be consequences from the airline authorities. He told me he wanted a blood test. I told him that since we were not charging him with a crime, I had no reason to take a blood sample. I did offer him the use of the local on-call blood technician but I advised him he would be responsible for the testing and storage of the sample. At his request I called dispatch and asked for the blood technician to respond to the airport."

Duszak was detained after police consulted with the district attorney's office. He was told that a blood test would be at his expense, and he would be responsible for the cost of the test and storage of the sample.

A blood test was eventually ordered, and it came back at 0.015. He was never charged.

Duszak was never charged. He has also not flown since. In his lawsuit, he alleges that he was falsely arrested and defamed, and that the police acted "maliciously" against him.

Other details of the lawsuit were not disclosed.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report