NOPD officer fired after crashing marked car into multiple cars while drunk, reinstated

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New Orleans police officer Denzel Millon won his job back Tuesday, nearly a year after being fired for drunkenly crashing a marked unit into multiple cars in the Warehouse District.

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Millon admitted to drinking before starting his shift with the Special Operations Division Traffic Division on July 28, 2022. He blew more than twice the legal limit and was booked for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving on a roadway laned for traffic. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, according to the Civil Service decision, though court records weren't available.

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Civil Service Commissioners Andrew Monteverde and Ruth Davis found his termination “arbitrary and capricious,” noting that years elapsed between Millon’s Aug. 2022 wreck, the ensuing criminal and administrative investigations and his firing in April 2025, the decision states. Chairperson Brittney Richardson dissented, saying Millon's drunk driving endangered himself and others.

Commissioners downgraded Millon’s firing to a demotion, from senior police officer to police officer, and a suspension, which he served in 2022.
"Following the conclusion of NOPD's investigation in September of 2022, NOPD displayed a lack of urgency about imposing additional discipline," the ruling states. "Instead, NOPD returned Millon to active duty for 18 months before the penalty phase of his internal hearing."

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