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Saturday, June 27, 2009
Official Faces DWI Charge
By Dan McKay
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
A manager in Bernalillo County's substance-abuse program — and a candidate to take over as department director — faces his own DWI charge this summer.
Carl Dallas Broach, 43, was arrested in December and charged with aggravated DWI. He has entered a not-guilty plea, and his case is set for trial in Metropolitan Court next month.
Deputy County Manager John Dantis said he is aware of the drunken-driving charge, but defended Broach as a well-credentialed, outstanding worker. The county will decide soon, he said, whether Broach will take over as director of the Department of Substance Abuse Programs.
"While clearly there's a concern, you have to look at the individual and the totality of the circumstances," he said.
A criminal complaint filed in late December accuses Broach of aggravated DWI.
A police officer said he saw Broach driving the wrong way on a one-way street Downtown. He said Broach struck a curb, according to a complaint filed in Metro Court.
The officer said Broach performed poorly on field sobriety tests and admitted drinking "three beers throughout the evening," according to the complaint. A breath-alcohol test indicated that Broach blew "at or above twice the legal limit," the complaint said. The presumptive level of intoxication in New Mexico is 0.08 percent.
Broach's attorney, David C. Serna, said Friday that he doesn't expect a successful prosecution.
"We think the state doesn't have a case against him," Serna said. "He fully intends to go to trial and expects to be acquitted."
Broach works at the county's detoxification center in the Southeast Heights. The center — known as MATS, or Metropolitan Assessment and Treatment Services — offers minor medical care to public drunks, counseling and other services. Broach has been clinical manager for a few years, a country spokeswoman said.
Broach's title is clinical manager in the Department of Substance Abuse Programs. He sometimes speaks before the county's DWI Planning Council, which works with other agencies to combat drunken driving, according to meeting agendas.
Broach is "very well-credentialed," Dantis said. "He's done an excellent job." He added that Broach has completed work toward a doctorate.
Dantis said Broach has been interviewed by the selection committee working to hire a director for the substance-abuse department.
Asked whether Broach had been offered the job, Dantis said, "That decision is pending."
"The county obviously looks at and takes very seriously all of the experiences and education that an individual brings to the table when they're being considered for hire or promotional opportunities," he said. "This is something that is, of course, a concern."
He said it's premature to say whether the outcome of the DWI case would play a role in the hiring decision.
The Journal requested Broach's annual salary, but the county didn't immediately provide it Friday.
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