On Tuesday, Washington State Troopers arrested a semitrailer truck driver and charged him with drunken driving.

The 41-year-old truck driver was arrested in the early morning hours near Vancouver after an off-duty Oregon police officer witness the semi driving recklessly on the north end of Vancouver.

The off-duty officer notified Washington State Police of the driver, who then notified the Port of Entry scales so they could stop the driver when he arrived at the next weigh station. When the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officer stopped the truck driver, he noted the odor of intoxicants coming from the semi cab, and noted that the driver's speech was slurred. A blood alcohol test revealed that the driver's blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit (.08) by four times.

Sources said that, in addition to his DUI charge, the driver was cited for a logbook violation and put out of service for 24 hours.

Sources didn't say how the DUI charge would affect the truck driver's employment or commercial driver's license. CDL laws vary from state to state, but police usually take away a driver's CDL upon arresting them for DUI, and give them a temporary driving permit in its place. The temporary license does not allow the driver to continue driving the truck, so they usually need to get a ride. Drivers who have had their CDL confiscated aren't able to get a temporary CDL permit, however. In most cases, commercial drivers will be able to get their CDL reinstated after a DUI conviction.

In our next post, we'll continue to look at how DUI convictions affect commercial driver's licenses.