CORVALLIS (AP) - Corvallis Police officer Dave Cox has a reputation for being tough on drunken and drugged drivers — of 35 busts the department made in May, for example, 27 were his.

But now, Cox is on suspension, in part because he arrested one driver whose blood alcohol level was 0.00 and who tested negative for illicit drugs.

Lt. Dave Henslee said Cox has been on administrative leave since Sept. 14 while the department investigates potential policy violations. He confirmed that the arrest of the sober man was one reason for the investigation.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times reported that of the 27 people Cox arrested on charges of driving under the influence in May, six had blood alcohol levels below Oregon’s limit of .08 percent, and none was found to have been using drugs.

About a quarter of his cases from that month were dismissed in court or not pursued by the district attorney’s office, the newspaper reported.

But those arrests will remain on the drivers’ records, accessible by prospective employers and law enforcement officers on patrol and making traffic stops.

Under Oregon law, “an arrest for traffic is not expungeable,” even if the driver never is charged or convicted, said Corvallis defense lawyer Jennifer Nash.

Two weeks before Cox was suspended, lawyer Dan Rayfield notified the city of an impending suit from the man who tested alcohol and marijuana free.

Besides showing 0.00 percent on the breath test, Rayfield said, his client submitted urine for a drug test. The results showed a trace amount of codeine from cold medicine the man had a couple of days before, but no marijuana or other drugs, Rayfield said.

Cox’s report described the man’s eyes as “extremely watery, bloodshot and glassy,” said he was moving and talking slowly and slurring his words, and said he had a dazed look. The Gazette-Times said 22 of Cox’s 27 drunken driving arrest reports in May repeated those observations, almost word for word.

“I believe the mindset is, ’We may arrest one innocent person, but we have 10 other guilty people that aren’t on the streets driving drunk,’ “ Rayfield said. “I think that’s a personal Cox policy.”

Henslee denied the police department had such a policy.

“Our goal is the protection of everybody’s civil liberties,” he said. “We report to and respond to the people in this town — they are our bosses. We work for them.”