DUI Conviction For Seattle Police Officer

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has reported that local police officer, Zsolt Dornay, has been convicted of driving under the influence in Grays Harbor County.  He was arrested last year. 

Prosecutors contended that Dornay challenged the arresting state trooper by saying, "Are you sure you want to do this?" when he handed over his police identification along with his driver's license.

Grays Harbor Deputy Prosecutor, Gordon Wright, stated that Dornay's remark was subject to interpretation and that he may not have necessarily been requesting leniency.

Wright said that Dornay could receive anywhere from 15 days of electronic home monitoring to a day in jail.  In addition, Dornay will have to comply with a fine for $866, attend a victim-impact panel, have an alcohol evaluation and possibly, per prosecutors, pay a restitution for the state trooper's time. Dornay is scheduled for his DUI sentencing on October 1.

The State Department of Licensing determined, before the conviction, not to suspend Dornay's driver's license as his breath-alcohol test from the DUI charge was not suppressed.

The only statement released from the Seattle Police Department said that they had "Learned that one of our officers was convicted in Grays Harbor County for the crime of driving under the influence, because the Office of Professional Accountability investigation is still active and on going, it is our practice to not discuss the matter further until that investigation is complete. The officer is currently assigned to the Criminal Investigations Bureau."

Since Dornay was hired by the Seattle Police Department in March of 1994, he has been surrounded by controversy.

In 1995, while off-duty, Dornay chased down a man in Woodinville following a violent road rage accident.  Records show that Dornay held a gun to the man's head and then rubbed his face into a parking lot's asphalt.  Dornay claimed that the other motorist had a gun, but the weapon was never located.

Norm Stamper, the police chief at the time of the incident, suspended Dornay for 30 days, half of it held in advance. Stamper didn't terminate Dornay for his actions as he felt that, "This guy had real potential."

Another off-duty incident occurred in 2006 when Dornay was beaten until he was unconscious by an angry mob in Post Alley, Seattle. Dornay ended the incident by shooting a lawyer in the stomach and claiming self-defense.

The former civilian director of the Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability told the Seattle PI that he believed that Dornay had riled the mob, but that the shooting was a justified action.

Years ago, Dornay sent the Seattle PI an e-mail about the Post Alley incident to ask for understanding. In explanation for his behavior, Dornay wrote that the event, "spiraled into the most traumatic incident of my life."

West Precinct Captain Steve Brown said that Dornay was a highly skilled and experienced narcotics officer in 2008.

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