Gardner accused of DUI again

OREM — Police say a former Utah County commissioner arrested for driving under the influence Thursday night had a blood alcohol level of nearly 28 times the Legislature-approved limit to drive.

David Gardner, 53, was arrested just after 10:20 p.m. after a detective with the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force spotted him walking to his car outside a 7-Eleven gas station in Springville.

"The clerk pointed to Gardner, who had already walked out, and said, 'Man, that dude smells really bad of alcohol,"' said Major Crimes Lt. Richard Ferguson, relaying what his officer had told him.

The officer said he turned around in time to recognize Gardner and see him get into the car. By the time the officer got to the car, Gardner had turned the key and put the car in gear.

The plainclothes officer identified himself and had Gardner turn off the car and step outside to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed, Ferguson said.

His final blood alcohol level was 2.19 — nearly halfway to dead at 5.0, Ferguson said.

"That's not a buzz, that's drunk, drunk," Ferguson said.

Gardner was cooperative with the officer who booked him into the Utah County Jail just after 10:20 p.m. for investigation of DUI. He bailed out an hour later.

This is the third DUI arrest for Gardner, the first one coming from March 1999 after he crashed his car into a field and blamed his intoxication on a sip of a drink given him by a hitchhiker, whom he had allegedly picked up earlier.

The DUI case was passed from Orem's 4th District Court to Provo's court, but then to 7th District Court, where it was dismissed at the county attorney's request due to insufficient evidence after some evidence had to be suppressed, according to court officials.

In October 2000, he was arrested by Provo police for DUI and later pleaded guilty to class B charges of driving under the influence and open container in the vehicle.

He was sentenced to two days in jail for work diversion, and required to pay more than $1,400 in fines. He was also ordered to complete an alcohol evaluation.

"We really were not targeting him," Ferguson said. "(Major crimes) does primarily drug cases, but we're also police officers in the field. When we see crime happening, we take action. That's what happened."