Officer Ahab and the allegedly drunk White Whale

Corvallis, Oregon police officer Dave Cox has a passion for arresting drunk and impaired drivers, which is commendable.

According to this article, though, Officer Cox's passion extends to arresting people who are not impaired, which is not such a good thing.

A man who was arrested by Cox is filing suit against the Corvallis Police Department, because Cox seems to have locked up:

"a man whose blood alcohol level proved to be 0.00 percent and who also tested negative for drugs."

This case also apparently isn't a one-time error, as Cox has similarly inconvenienced a lot of other people in the past:

"However, six of the 27 people arrested by Cox that month had blood alcohol levels under the legal limit and were not found to have been using drugs. And about one-quarter of the people he arrested were either not prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office, or had charges dismissed by the court."

Unfortunately for the wronged citizens, "inconvenienced" is too mild of a word, as under Oregon law, arrests for DUI are not expungeable even if the person isn't convicted or no charges are ultimately filed, meaning that this will be on their records permanently, affecting job applications, adoption efforts, insurance rates, and will show up when an officer stops them for any reason, among a host of other items.

Cox's preferred tactic seemed to be badgering drivers with inane questions after the field sobriety tests came up negative, and after the motorists continued to deny using any illegal substances:

"'I asked why he has several raised and enlarged taste buds on the back of his tongue if he does not smoke anything and he said he does not know.'"

You've got to be kidding me.

"Cox has been on administrative leave since Sept.14"

Why does he still have a job?