Jacksonville cop accused of driving drunk in cruiser

A Jacksonville police officer was arrested on a drunken driving charge Tuesday, accused of driving his police cruiser while intoxicated.

Officer Justin Francis Marino, a four-year department veteran, was suspended without pay and faces possible termination, Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

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Officers were called around midnight to the home of Marino’s girlfriend and learned they had been in an argument, the sheriff said. Marino drove away in his police cruiser and was intoxicated, the woman told officers.

Officers found Marino, who was not on duty, pulling into a gas station on Gate Parkway, the sheriff said.

“He should not have been in his police car. As a matter of fact, he should not have been in a car at all,” Waters said at a news conference. “No one is above the law, and if one of our employees violates a criminal statute, this agency will fully investigate that allegation.”