By Chris Klint
The Alaska Dispatch News
KOTZEBUE, Alaska — Kotzebue’s fire chief is facing a DUI charge after police in the Northwest Alaska community say he was spotted driving a fire department vehicle drunk during the Fourth of July weekend.
Court records indicate that 37-year-old Sean Ralston, listed as chief on the Kotzebue Fire Department’s website, faces one misdemeanor count of DUI in the Saturday incident. He was scheduled for an out-of-custody arraignment Thursday afternoon.
Joe Evans, Kotzebue’s city attorney, said by phone that Ralston — no relationship to Kotzebue Mayor Gayle Ralston — had been placed on leave, pending a review of the situation by City Manager Derek Martin. No initial timetable has been set for that review.
“Pursuant to our code and past practice he’s on paid administrative leave,” Evans said. “It can be a matter of days or a matter of weeks.”
Evans said Capt. Kelly Marcus, Ralston’s deputy at the fire department, has been named acting fire chief. He will oversee the department’s eight paid employees, as well as a support team of six to 12 active volunteers.
In a criminal complaint against Ralston, officer Thomas Slease of the Kotzebue Police Department said he first received a Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately call about Ralston being drunk at the wheel of “a marked Kotzebue Fire Department vehicle” at about 9 p.m. Saturday. Minutes later, Slease said he saw Ralston park a marked KFD vehicle at Ralston’s apartment building on Mission Street, where Slease approached him.
“I was immediately able to smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverages on his breath,” Slease wrote. "(Ralston) denied drinking, but reluctantly agreed to conduct standardized field sobriety tests.”
According to Slease, those tests produced “sufficient signs of impairment” for him to place Ralston under arrest. When Slease searched Ralston’s vehicle, he said he found two Bud Light cans — one empty and crushed, the other partially consumed.
When Ralston was taken to the Kotzebue Regional Jail, Slease said he agreed to provide a breath sample for alcohol testing. After a 15-minute wait, that sample returned a breath alcohol content of 0.167 — just over twice Alaska’s legal limit of 0.08. Ralston asked to have a separate blood draw taken at the Maniilaq Health Center.
The city has no immediate plans to fire or replace Ralston, who Evans said was named fire chief over five years ago. Evans said he hadn’t heard of any prior incidents involving Ralston similar to the one described in Monday’s charges during Ralston’s time on the city payroll.
“In fact, he’s been an exemplary chief as far as getting the department in the shape it’s in today,” Evans said.
Copyright 2016 the Alaska Dispatch News