On March 29, 2019 the Aurora Police Department received a call of a uniformed officer who was passed

out in a vehicle. The officer, Nathan “Nate” Meier, was unresponsive in the driver’s seat of an unmarked
APD vehicle and attempts to wake him up were not successful. Once the officer was removed from the
vehicle by members of Aurora Fire Rescue he was immediately transported to an area hospital for
medical evaluation.

Some of the officers who had first arrived on scene had contact with Ofc. Meier and smelled a very faint
odor of a possible alcoholic beverage on his breath. The odor did not linger and was not
prevalent. There was no evidence located in the vehicle indicating this was an incident involving
alcohol. This incident was treated as an emergency medical situation until more information could be
gathered.

At the hospital medical evaluations were done for Ofc. Meier. One APD sergeant gained access to the
room and briefly spoke with Ofc. Meier but did not note any odor of alcohol coming from his breath.

Information the hospital staff learned about his condition was not shared with members of the
department due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy laws. The
hospital staff informed our members he was being treated and would be released in a few hours, and
nothing further. In fact, at one point hospital staff refused to allow officers access to the hospital room.

Questions have been raised as to why this was not a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) investigation and
why he was not charged with a DUI-related charge. Due to an inability to exclude a medical condition,
and absent confirmatory information a DUI investigation was not conducted. No blood test was done
since there was no felony committed and a blood draw could not be forced. However, the hospital did
draw blood from Officer Meier for examination and diagnosis purposes.

An Internal Affairs Investigation was initiated. During that process Ofc. Meier voluntarily shared his
medical records which indicated the level of his alcohol consumption. Based on HIPPA, this was
information he did not have to release to the department. During his Internal Affairs interview, Ofc.
Meier immediately admitted to his actions and the poor choices he made that day, and has been
cooperative throughout the process.

Ofc. Meier took immediate responsibility for his actions. He has shown tremendous dedication in
addressing his actions of that day and taken aggressive steps moving forward. In addition to being
demoted from the rank of Agent back to officer, Ofc. Meier also received a significant unpaid
suspension. As a result of this discipline, Ofc. Meier has experienced a financial impact in excess of
$20,000 and will continue to experience such impact over the next few years as a result of his continued
demotion.

In addition, he has stringent rules to follow while he remains employed with the Aurora Police
Department. Among those rules he has signed an agreement that any similar or significant infraction
will result in immediate termination.

We understand in order to maintain the public’s trust we need to be transparent with our actions. We
take our responsibility to the public very serious and hold our members accountable for their wrong
doings.