One Aurora police officer has been charged with driving while ability impaired and another for throwing beer cans out of their marked police cruiser as they were heading to South Dakota for the funeral of a fallen officer.

The two Aurora police officers were pulled over Wednesday evening near Torrington, Wyo., by Goshen County sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Morehouse.

Morehouse said the department received a complaint that a police car was speeding with its emergency lights flashing to clear traffic and trash was being thrown from the cruiser’s window.

Morehouse pulled the police car over and found beer in a cooler. He said he could smell alcohol on the breath of Aurora police Officer Bradley Bickett.

“This is pretty disturbing,” Morehouse said. “I’m not sure what they were thinking.”

He administered a roadside test and arrested Bickett.

Bickett’s blood-alcohol level was 0.07, just under the threshold for drunken driving, Morehouse said. He was charged with driving while impaired and for speeding, going 57 mph in a 40 mph zone.

Bickett’s passenger, Aurora Officer Gerald Kirby, was cited for littering.

Bickett and Kirby were wearing police uniforms.

Two command officers from the Aurora Police Department went to Wyoming to pick up Bickett and Kirby after the department received the news.

The funeral for Rapid City police Officer Nick Armstrong was held Thursday, according to the Rapid City Journal. The funeral for Officer J. Ryan McCandless was last week. Both officers were in a shootout that erupted during a routine traffic stop Aug. 2. McCandless died that day. Armstrong died Sunday.

Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said that when Bickett and Kirby return to work Monday they will be put into nonuniform, nonenforcement assignments until the issue is investigated.

Both have been police officers for more than 30 years, she said.

“They will not have contact with the public until this serious discipline matter is resolved,” Carlson said.

Carlson said Police Chief Dan Oates addressed the staff Thursday morning about what happened in Wyoming. He also called Goshen County to apologize to the sheriff and praised them for their professionalism.

The citations are misdemeanors, so the two officers may not be at risk of losing their jobs.

Even so, it is still a black eye for the more than 600 police officers in Aurora.

“To send officers up to a fellow officer’s funeral, it’s a sign of respect and kindness,” Carlson said. “You better believe we’re embarrassed.”

Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com