ST. LOUIS 鈥 Daniel Thurman sat in a trooper鈥檚 patrol vehicle on the side of the highway. It was around midnight.
Thurman, an off-duty 最新杏吧原创 police officer, had been pulled over for speeding.
The trooper could smell alcohol on his breath. When Thurman took a breathalyzer test, it registered almost twice the legal limit.
Thurman was angry about it.
鈥淎re you really trying to do this (expletive) to me right now?鈥 Thurman said to the trooper, according to court records. 鈥淪o, if, if I were to drive the frickin鈥 speed limit, would you be willing to forget about this all?鈥
It was Aug. 13, 2022. Thurman was arrested for drunken driving and speeding. But the charges were just the start of a legal process that would drag out for more than two-and-a-half years. Over that period, restrictions on his license were delayed, he kept working at the 最新杏吧原创 police department, he drove his patrol vehicle in violation of a state order 鈥 without his bosses knowing 鈥 and his drunken driving charge was wiped from his record.
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His speeding case is still ongoing. And he鈥檚 still working as a cop, in a new jurisdiction.
Altogether, his case reveals holes in a system designed to hold police officers accountable.
Thurman could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, notable DWI attorney Travis Noble, did not respond to several requests for an interview.
最新杏吧原创 police eventually fired Thurman several months after the incident, a decision that isn鈥檛 explained in court records. None of the parties involved would discuss his case.
Thurman is now a cop in Overland. His new boss, Overland police Chief Andrew Mackey, also wouldn鈥檛 comment.
Tim Maher, a criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri-最新杏吧原创, said Overland has some explaining to do.
鈥淚f I was a resident of Overland,鈥 he said, 鈥淚鈥檇 be demanding that the chief come clean on this.鈥
Maher said it鈥檚 possible the department did a thorough background check and several interviews to determine Thurman wasn鈥檛 at risk of reoffending.
鈥淭here is no doubt police departments have been having trouble recruiting people, not just in the St Louis area, but nationwide,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd less and less people are applying to become police officers. And I suspect, as a consequence, that some standards have been lowered.鈥
Now, the state is involved. On Feb. 6, the attorney general鈥檚 office filed a complaint against Thurman鈥檚 police license.
As a result, records in the investigation of Thurman鈥檚 drunken driving incident have become public.
鈥楢rresting city cops?鈥
At 11:54 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2022, Missouri Highway Patrol trooper Kyle G. Barba pulled over Thurman, then 27, on southbound I-270 at Dorsett Road in 最新杏吧原创 County.
He clocked Thurman鈥檚 Nissan Maxima at 105 mph in a 60 mph zone, according to Barba鈥檚 report.
Thurman told Barba he was actually driving about 120 mph.
The trooper said he could smell alcohol on Thurman鈥檚 breath and noticed his eyes were watery and bloodshot.
Barba asked Thurman if he鈥檇 been drinking. Thurman said he鈥檇 had two drinks that night.
He passed two field sobriety tests, standing on one foot and walking in a straight line. But Barba noted Thurman鈥檚 eyes made some involuntary movements indicative of intoxication.
Barba asked Thurman to sit in the front seat of his squad car and take a breath test.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be over,鈥 Thurman told Barba.
Thurman blew a 0.148, almost double the 0.08 percent legal limit.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e really going to take me to (expletive) jail?鈥 Thurman then said. 鈥淟ook, could you please just give me a (expletive) ticket.鈥
Fourteen minutes later, at 12:08 a.m., Barba arrested him.
鈥淪o, do you guys get off on, uh, arresting city cops?鈥 Thurman asked Barba.
Thurman鈥檚 Nissan had a male passenger, not identified in records, who waited for a ride. The trooper said he also confiscated Thurman鈥檚 personal handgun.
That night, the state issued Thurman a notice of a 90-day driver鈥檚 license suspension.
Restricted license
Thurman went back to work as a 最新杏吧原创 police officer, according to the state鈥檚 complaint. It was his fifth year with the department. He hired a lawyer, Noble, to handle his case.
One of Noble鈥檚 first steps: He requested a hearing with the Department of Revenue to review the driver鈥檚 license suspension issued by the troopers. The effect of that request was to delay the license suspension until after the hearing.
On Nov. 3 of that year, Thurman鈥檚 DOR hearing was held, according to court records. Four days later, the state mailed a notice to Thurman that he couldn鈥檛 drive without an 鈥渋nterlock device,鈥 which tests a driver鈥檚 breath for alcohol before the engine can start.
Noble quickly appealed the decision. Still, on Nov. 22, 2022 鈥 while waiting for a hearing on the appeal 鈥 the restriction went into effect, as outlined in state law.
It took five months before a hearing was held on the appeal, and another almost four months before the court ruled, reaffirming the state鈥檚 decision to restrict Thurman鈥檚 license.
But Thurman continued to work as a cop and drive a patrol car in 最新杏吧原创, without an interlock device, according to the state鈥檚 complaint over his peace officer license.
The 最新杏吧原创 police department, the complaint says, 鈥渄id not become aware鈥 of the restriction on his driver鈥檚 license until early January 2023. None of the documents, including the state鈥檚 complaint, explain how the agency learned of the license restriction. And none of the parties would discuss it.
Even the attorney general鈥檚 office isn鈥檛 sure when 最新杏吧原创 police learned of Thurman鈥檚 arrest.
But city police should have known. Police departments in Missouri are enrolled in a program called RAP Back, which sends records of any police officer arrested or prosecuted back to the agency that employs them. The notice is automatic, triggered by the fingerprinting of the accused.
最新杏吧原创 police spokesman Mitch McCoy confirmed that the department gets the notifications. He declined to comment on Thurman鈥檚 case, citing personnel record laws.
Still, the state complaint says Thurman鈥檚 supervisors determined he had driven his patrol car, in violation of his interlock device requirement, at least 21 times between Nov. 25, 2022, and Jan. 4, 2023.
On Jan. 8, he was ticketed for Failing to Heed Restriction on Operator鈥檚 License.
Sometime over the next month and a half, the ticket was changed. On Feb. 24, the state complaint says, Thurman pleaded guilty to Littering from a Vehicle and paid a fine.
On April 26, 2023, Thurman was fired by 最新杏吧原创 police.
Thurman pleaded guilty to the DWI on Nov. 16, 2023, more than a year after the incident.
Then, in an outcome even 最新杏吧原创 County prosecutor Melissa Price Smith said seemed 鈥渦nusual,鈥 Thurman received a suspended imposition of sentence 鈥 meaning if he complied with one year on probation, the charge would be removed from his record.
He was also ordered to pay $10 to the victim鈥檚 compensation fund, according to the only document publicly available in the case.
Price Smith declined further comment; the case was during the tenure of her predecessor, now-U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell.
Adam Notch, the assistant prosecutor who signed off on the sentence, is no longer with the office, said he didn鈥檛 remember the case and declined comment.
The judge who sentenced Thurman, Lorne Baker, did not return calls for comment.
Then, on Nov. 28, 2023 鈥 less than two weeks after Thurman pleaded guilty to driving intoxicated 鈥 the Overland Police Department hired him as an officer.
The state鈥檚 complaint
On Feb. 6, 2025, the Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 Office filed the petition to discipline Thurman鈥檚 peace officer license.
Mike O鈥機onnell, the spokesman for the Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training commission, which handles peace officer licensing, said POST reviews cases and hands them over to the attorney general鈥檚 office. That office then determines whether to file a petition with the state鈥檚 Administrative Hearing Commission.
The commission is made up of five administrative judges, known as commissioners, who are required to be members of the Missouri Bar and are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Missouri Senate. The commissioners do not sit as a panel, but rather they are each assigned to cases.
A commissioner will review Thurman鈥檚 case and rule on whether there is cause for discipline.
If there is cause, the director of the state Department of Public Safety will then decide whether to put Thurman鈥檚 police license on probation, on suspension or revoke it altogether.
Thurman will have the right to appeal the decision in circuit court.
He is scheduled for a status hearing on June 25.
The speeding ticket from the night he was pulled over, filed separately from his DWI charge, remains pending.
His next hearing in that case is May 22. If convicted, he faces up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
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