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By STEPHEN FALESKI

The Tidewater News

FRANKLIN, VA – The Isle of Wight County sheriff’s deputy accused of driving drunk on patrol last week has now been fired.

The Sheriff’s Office suspended and arrested Deputy Preston Saul on July 16 after a fellow deputy said in court filings he’d discovered Saul, 29, of Gates County, North Carolina, passed out in the driver’s seat of a car with the engine running.

Deputy Alecia Paul, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, confirmed on July 19 that Saul had been “acting in his capacity as an Isle of Wight County Deputy” at the time he was taken into custody and suspended without pay. Paul released an additional statement on July 22 stating Saul has “since been terminated.”

Isle of Wight County Sheriff James Clarke Jr., in a July 19 statement he reiterated on July 22, said his office values professionalism, integrity and the public’s trust.

“These are principles that define those who serve the citizens of Isle of Wight County, and we will continue to hold the men and women of the Sheriff’s office to the high standards our citizens deserve,” Clarke said.

Witnesses say the incident occurred near the Franklin Regional Airport in the southern tip of Isle of Wight County.

A court filing by Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Chad Beale states Saul had been “difficult to wake up” when Beale discovered him, and had a “strong odor of alcoholic beverage about his person, bloodshot and glassy eyes and appeared confused.”

The affidavit alleges Saul to have “refused to participate in SFST,” initials for the standardized field sobriety test that law enforcement officers can ask a motorist suspected of driving impaired to perform.

Beale said he transported Saul to the Franklin, Virginia Police Department where a breath test showed Saul to have a blood alcohol content of 0.09, just above the 0.08 legal limit that constitutes drunk driving.

A search of Saul’s car, according to Beale’s affidavit, revealed an opened bottle of Twisted Tea, an alcohol-infused iced tea drink, behind the car’s center console.

(Stephen Faleski is a Staff Writer with The Tidewater News, a sister publication of The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald and Gates County Index.)