A Polk County manager refused a sobriety test after her OWI arrest. Then she was let go.

The swift release this month of a top Polk County manager arrested on a charge of drunken driving raised questions about whether she received special treatment from employees of the sheriff's department.

Blair Deana Parker, deputy director of Polk County human resources, was arrested June 18 by an Iowa State Patrol trooper and booked on OWI — without being detained in jail before an initial court appearance or having her mug shot posted on the jail's inmate website.

A tipster contacted local media this week about Parker's release, alleging she "demanded special treatment" and got it.

Capt. Ryan Evans, a sheriff's department spokesperson, said other defendants receive the same treatment if they aren't considered a public threat, a flight risk and meet other "cite and release" criteria.

But the only other person released this year by the sheriff's department from the jail in that way, an Adel man also accused of OWI, did have a booking photo posted on the inmate website.

Matt Lindholm, one of the metro's most experienced OWI defense attorneys, said Parker's treatment by jail staff was atypical.

"Once (defendants) are in the jail, the only way out is to post bond or see a judge," he said. "I've never seen the jail say, 'We are going to release you on our own discretion.'"

Lindholm said West Des Moines police often cite someone for OWI and release the offender if someone sober comes to take the person home. Des Moines police typically do not.

But for the sheriff's department to do so "would be such an anomaly we would have been talking about it here," Lindholm said. "It just doesn't happen."

Driver was swerving, weaving at 4:20 a.m., complaint says

Parker's black Honda CRV was observed at around 4:20 a.m. June 18 swerving and weaving on eastbound Interstate 235 at the 8-mile marker traveling around 37 mph, a criminal complaint in the case shows.

After Parker was pulled over, Officer Allison Fleming observed her trying to gather things in her vehicle.

“She looked right at me, and I still had to knock on the window to get her to roll it down,” the trooper wrote in the complaint. "The defendant had an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her and she had bloodshot watery eyes. The defendant also had dried blood around her nose but could not remember how it happened.”

Parker, 37, admitted to drinking a glass of wine but refused any sobriety tests, according to the complaint.

“While walking, the defendant was unsteady on her feet,” the complaint said.

Parker was booked at the jail on a charge of first offense OWI, a serious misdemeanor, and cited for alleged failure to maintain minimum speed, a $135 noncriminal offense. She was released to her sister on a citation release, approved by Sgt. Ryan Phillips, and provided a court date for the charges.

More: Polk County Sheriff's Office releases video of deputy fatally shooting man in 2018

State troopers do not wear body cameras. Evans denied the Register's request to see any video footage of the booking inside the jail, saying surveillance of the interior of the facility is considered confidential under Iowa Code Chapter 22.7(50), which lists information about certain physical infrastructure as an exception to Iowa's public records law.

Cite-and-release laws common across the country

The vast majority of law enforcement agencies nationwide have cite-and-release policies, though they differ across the country.

The laws give officers discretion in deciding when to give someone a citation and court summons in lieu of arrest, which involves taking the person into custody, fingerprinting and photographing them to establish or verify their identity, and jailing them pending an initial court appearance, pretrial release or bail.

In Iowa, state code allows people charged with first-offense OWI to be cited and released by the arresting agency or a county jail. Citations can reduce the amount of time required to process infractions and can keep jail populations lower, but one criticism of such programs has been that a high rate of offenders fail to appear for their scheduled court dates.

Two other attorneys who handle OWI cases in Des Moines — who asked not to be identified because they work with sheriff's officials — told Watchdog this week it would be unusual, but not illegal, for the sheriff's department to release an OWI defendant after booking.

Brandon Brown, another Des Moines defense attorney who has handled OWI cases, suggested one way to discern whether special treatment took place would be to ask how many other offenders received the same treatment as Parker from the sheriff's office.

This year, only one other person was cited and released for any offense by the sheriff's department, according to Evans. But that man, whose OWI case is ongoing, did have his photograph posted on the Polk County inmates website.

Evans said jail staff have a worksheet to help them decide which defendants can be cited and released after their booking. The criteria for release include weighing the severity of the offense, whether defendants have someone to be released to so they are not a safety threat, and whether they have a verifiable address so they aren't a flight risk.

People accused of domestic abuse or who have been assaultive are not eligible, he said.

Parker failed to show Tuesday at an initial court appearance, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. A judge ordered that she be held on $2,000 cash bond, court records show.

The warrant hadn't been served as of Thursday afternoon.

Parker also was not at her job this week. But her boss, county human resources chief Jeff Edgar, said she has been out of the office because of a death in the family unrelated to the OWI arrest. Edgar said the arrest will be handled as a personnel matter.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Swift release of Polk County manager after OWI charge raises questions