COUNCIL BLUFFS — An Omaha police sergeant remains on active duty after he was arrested and briefly jailed following a disturbance at a Horseshoe Casino craps table.
Council Bluffs police arrested Sgt. William Dropinski, a supervisor in the Omaha department's traffic unit and former public information officer, on suspicion of public intoxication
Dropinski's lawyer, Michael Fitzpatrick, said his client is not guilty and will fight the accusations in court.
“It's very obvious to me that the officers there were looking for an opportunity to get some action that night,” Fitzpatrick said. “It's unfortunate to my client that he is the victim of this action.”
The incident began when the casino's lead security supervisor approached a woman, identified as Dropinski's girlfriend, at the craps table out of concern she was intoxicated.
Dropinski intervened, police and Fitzpatrick said, saying his girlfriend had only been at the casino for a brief time and wasn't drunk.
“I continued to watch the conversation from 10 feet away until I noticed (Dropinski) curse ‘[expletive] you' at [the security guard] and become aggressive towards him both verbally and non-verbally,” a Council Bluffs police officer wrote in his report.
Officers said they approached Dropinski, 40, and the woman in an effort to get them to leave the casino voluntarily.
At that point, according to the police report, Dropinski pointed his finger in the reporting officer's face and yelled another expletive. The reporting officer told him he was now being arrested.
Dropinski then allegedly started to walk back toward the craps table to retrieve his chips when the officer grabbed him by the arm and told him to place both hands behind his back.
“He felt he was being very unfairly treated,” Fitzpatrick said. “He did use profanity, he did use the ‘F' word one time, but that was in response to how he and his girlfriend were being treated, and he was in the process of leaving the casino at that point.”
Dropinski allegedly refused to comply with the first officer's command but surrendered after another Council Bluffs officer pointed a Taser at Dropinski's chest and repeated the order, the report said.
Officers confirmed Dropinski's identity and status as an Omaha officer when they located his police identification card inside his wallet.
“You don't have to do this, you can let me go, I have given several Council Bluffs police officers breaks,” the report quoted Dropinski as saying.
“How can you do this to your own kind? We are supposed to be brothers,” Dropinski allegedly told officers.
Fitzpatrick disputed the officers' account of the incident, saying Dropinski and his girlfriend were trying to leave the casino and felt they had been harassed by casino staff.
Dropinski was drinking, Fitzpatrick said, but he was not intoxicated.
“We maintain our innocence and we're ready to go to trial on this,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have to.”
Dropinski refused to provide a breath sample to officers, police said. He was then taken to the Pottawattamie County Jail and booked without incident.
Dropinski's alleged actions are being investigated by the Omaha Police Department's internal affairs unit. He did not respond to messages seeking comment and will enter a written not guilty plea on Friday.
“He is an excellent police officer,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I feel that when the dust settles he will be vindicated in this matter.”
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