A Moorhead police officer is being placed on administrative leave after being arrested on a charge of drunken driving while off-duty.

Sgt. Thad Stafford appeared in court Friday.

After being pulled over, Stafford was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.30, officials said. That's more than four times the legal limit.

A man called dispatchers about what he thought was an intoxicated male getting into a vehicle outside Mick's Office Bar around 7 p.m. Thursday.

Police say a Moorhead officer pulled the driver over and after observing signs of intoxication called for a Clay County deputy to take over the case to avoid a conflict of interest.

Moorhead Police Chief Shannon Monroe says in a statement that the department must maintain the trust of the public and that police officers are human and make mistakes, but are not above the law.