GREENFIELD — A longtime Greenfield Police Department officer was arrested over the weekend for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Hamilton County arrest records show patrol officer Nichole R. Gilbert was arrested by officials from the Fishers Police Department early Sunday morning for an OWI.
Gilbert, 45, Fortville, is a Greenfield native who is a 13-year veteran of the GPD. She was promoted to lieutenant in 2019 and given the duties as the head of the General Investigation and Narcotics Division. However, Gilbert requested to leave investigations last summer and go back to being a patrol officer. She has been a patrol officer since last summer and no longer did investigation work, officials said.
While officials from the GPD sent out a release around 10 a.m. Sunday morning saying one of their officers had been arrested for OWI in Hamilton County, they did not give any details of the arrest or the name of the officer at that time.
“The officers’ name is not being released until we receive a copy of the report,” Deputy Chief Charles McMichael stated in the release.
Official Hamilton County arrest records noted that Gilbert was taken into custody at 1:23 a.m. by officials from the Fishers Police Department then handed over to officials at the Hamilton County Jail where she was booked at approximately 2:27 a.m. Sunday.
Jail records indicate Gilbert was charged with one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor, which is still pending. The case has been assigned to Hamilton County Magistrate Court, records show.
Officials from the FPD say they arrested a woman, identified as Gilbert, for OWI after an officer who was patrolling near 96th Street and Olio Road observed a white passenger car with a missing headlight that was traveling using unsafe lane movement, officials said in an email to the Daily Reporter.
“The officer initiated a traffic stop by activating his emergency lights and the white passenger car pulled over to the side of the road,” Sgt. Thomas Weger, FPD public information officer said. “During the investigation, Fishers police officers developed probable cause to believe the ‘driver’ was operating a vehicle while intoxicated.”
Gilbert is a 1996 Greenfield-Central High School graduate who has been with the GPD since 2009. She worked her way through the ranks after being hired on as a field officer. She also served several years with the Cumberland Police Department. Her first job in law enforcement was at the Hancock County Jail.
McMichael noted that Gilbert was placed on administrative leave until an internal investigation is completed.
“We are committed to being transparent, even when we ourselves stumble,” McMichael said in the release.
McMichael sent out another release late Sunday afternoon with more details that stated that Gilbert was off-duty at the time of the arrest and was not driving a department-owned vehicle.
“The officers name was withheld to allow us time to communicate with the arresting agency, Fishers Police Department,” McMichael said in the second release. “Since this was their arrest, it would not have been appropriate for us to release the officers’ name and information without coordinating with and allowing them to release the information first. It is their information to release. With today being Sunday and Father’s Day, this took some time.”
