A Southwest Airlines pilot who was arrested earlier this year and fired for allegedly drinking before taking off in a commercial airliner is denying those allegations, despite police bodycam footage purportedly showing him failing a field sobriety test.
David Allsop, 53, had been flying with Southwest for 20 years and previously served in the U.S. Air Force. His attorney, David Chaiken, told The Independent that police bodycam footage showing his client’s arrest actually makes clear he did not commit a crime.
“The recently released bodycam video confirms what should be obvious to anyone who watches it — Captain Allsop committed no crime,” Chaiken said in his statement to The Independent. “Experts who have reviewed the video have concluded that the tests that led to his arrest were not performed correctly and that the proper procedures were not followed.”
Chaiken continued, saying that “these procedures are in place for a reason, to prevent mistakes like this one.”
The attorney described his client as an “American hero” who served in the military for more than a decade and who has no incidents on his record in almost 20 years of flying commercial airliners.
In the bodycam footage taken on January 15, 2025, Allsop admits to having had three Miller Lite beers, but he said he drank the beers approximately 10 hours before his flight.
Allsop was scheduled to fly out of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport bound for Chicago.
An officer in the bodycam footage says he smells alcohol on Allsop. The pilot says the officer is likely smelling his nicotine pouches.
“Additionally, I observed that Mr. Allsop had bloodshot, watery eyes and a flushed complexion,” Chatham County police officer Josiah Best noted in his report.
When police asked him to submit to a battery of field sobriety tests, he initially refused, insisting that the exam “wasn’t necessary,” but later agreed. He allegedly failed two of the three tests, after which he was escorted from the gangway for further questioning by police.
“It is noteworthy that Mr. Allsop failed to follow the tip of my pen with his eyes as instructed; instead he moved his head and neck during the test,” Best said in his report. “Mr. Allsop swayed while holding his leg at a 45-degree angle.”
On January 15, Allsop was charged with DUI and his pilot’s certification was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement that Allsop was “removed from duty immediately after the alleged incident and is no longer employed by Southwest Airlines.”
