When Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre was arrested last month on multiple DUI charges, the public learned of the incident via a press release issued by the City of Sierra Vista. But the Saturday, Jan. 28 press release about McIntyre’s arrest was unprecedented in two ways.
First, the press release included a statement of regret from McIntyre about his own arrest. And second, it did not include McIntyre’s booking photo, even though SVPD normally includes mugshots as part of an arrest press release. Both decisions were made by Police Chief Adam Thrasher.
And the decisions – particularly the one allowing a criminal defendant to use city resources to perform public damage control following his arrest – continues to make waves within the community as well as across Cochise County.
Arizona Daily Independent recently obtained dozens of public records related to SVPD’s press release stemming from McIntyre’s arrest which occurred after his vehicle was pulled over around 2:15 a.m. when Officer Paul Clark witnessed several traffic violations.
McIntyre, the county attorney since 2015, was taken into custody a few minutes later after a preliminary field sobriety test showed his blood alcohol concentration was .200 against a legal limit of .08. A formal breathalyzer test at the police station recorded McIntyre’s BAC at .210 less than an hour after the traffic stop.
According to the public records, McIntyre’s arrest was reported within minutes to Chief Thrasher by a phone call from Lt. Sean Brownson. At 8 a.m., the chief advised several other members of his command staff via a group text the arrest.
Thrasher also contacted City Manager Chuck Potucek and Assistant City Manager Victoria Yarbrough. Potucek replies that McIntyre’s arrest “will certainly make at least statewide news.”
In response, Thrasher floats the idea of a press release, but first wants to find out if McIntyre will be issuing his own announcement. The chief also asked his bosses about timing.
“Do we wait until Monday since it is the weekend or get it out today?” he asked Potucek and Yarbrough.
The city manager agrees Thrasher should find out what McIntyre’s plans are for releasing the information of his arrest. But Potucek does not want SVPD to hold the news until Monday.
“Bad news doesn’t age well and I don’t want us accused of sitting on it. I will give until tomorrow,” Potucek texted.
By 9 a.m., Thrasher had informed his command staff to get working on a press release so it “is ready to go.” He added that if McIntyre intended to release his own statement, then the city’s announcement “would release immediately after.”
The chief advises that no matter what, something will be released no later than Sunday.
By 10:30 a.m., a draft press release had been circulated by Sgt. Tim Wacthel, the supervisor of SVPD’s public information unit.
“Watched Paul’s [body-worn camera] to get the reason for the stop and paul did a good job considering the situation in front of him,” Wachtel texted to his immediate chain of command.
“I figured he would have been a professional,” replied Brownson, to which Commander Lawrence Boutte noted, “Horrible situation to be placed in though.”
Boutte, seemingly anticipating the forthcoming interest, responded to one of the group texts by noting “Hopefully McIntyre will come out with something asap.”
By 11:23a.m., Thrasher advised his top staff and the city manager he had made contact with McIntyre.
“He hasn’t fully considered everything yet. He will let me know tomorrow about press release,” Thrasher advised via text. .
In the meantime, Wachtel notified his superiors that Judy Hector, the city’s Communications Manager, was prepared to distribute a press release when it is ready to go out.
Wachtel also raised the question of whether McIntyre’s mugshot will be included “like we normally do on press releases?” It was a question that would be repeated by others over the next few hours.
Around 2:30 p.m., some 12 hours after McIntyre’s arrest, Thrasher instructed his staff to hold off on releasing any information until Sunday “unless we get a direct inquiry.” And no matter what, nothing was to be released without his approval, the chief added.
Then shortly before 3 p.m., Thrasher received a text message from McIntyre, who provides a statement he hoped could be included in SVPD’s press release “if it’s not too late.” McIntyre also noted he could not reach the county’s own public information officer (PIO).
Thrasher agrees to include McIntyre’s statement before offering to delay sending out the announcement until Sunday if McIntyre wants time to continue trying to reach his own PIO. McIntyre gave Thrasher the okay for the press release to go out Saturday afternoon instead of holding it.
Around 3:10 p.m., Thrasher sent McIntyre’s statement to his command staff for inclusion in the press release which would go out after a final review. The chief also updated the city manager about the plan to include McIntyre’s statement.
The mugshot will not be included, the chief ordered.
Just before 3:30 p.m. there was a final inquiry about whether to release McIntyre’s mugshot. Hector then distributed just the press release to several media outlets. It was also posted to SVPD’s official Facebook page.
McIntyre’s mugshot would later be released only in response to specific public records requests.
The first official comment issued by Cochise County concerning McIntyre’s arrest was released Feb. 6 when McIntyre announced he would not resign from office.
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Four DUI charges have been filed against McIntyre, the most serious is a Super Extreme DUI due to a BAC at or above .20.
McIntyre was given a Feb. 16 court date at the time of his arrest. It is unclear whether that hearing will occur at the Sierra Vista Justice Court as planned, due to questions of whether any of Cochise County’s six justices of peace can preside over the case without a conflict.
There is also a question of which prosecutor will be assigned to the case, as that duty would normally fall to one of McIntyre’s own deputy county attorneys.