A long-serving policeman has been convicted of drink-driving after a session at a police station bar.
Senior Constable Samuel James Withers, 42, was stopped at a checkpoint in Hastings on the way to get a takeaway after seven or eight beers at the town's police station club in February.
He had a breath-alcohol level of 522mcg. The legal limit is 400mcg.
Samuels, who has 19 years of service, was convicted at Hastings District Court on Friday.
He was fined $500, ordered to pay $130 costs and banned from driving for six months.
Defence counsel Scott Jefferson applied for a discharge without conviction.
The application was opposed by police prosecutor Shelley Watson-Hughes and declined by Judge Phillip Cooper.
The court heard Withers spent up to five hours in the police bar, celebrating a colleague's birthday.
Drunk cop convicted and fined
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