The state Attorney General’s Office is investigating whether an Athens Police supervisor attempted to have voided the ticket of a motorist whose blood alcohol measured twice the legal limit, sources said Friday.

Mayor Dan Williams confirmed that two investigators were at the Police Department two or three weeks ago about the matter.

“There has been two investigators from the Attorney General’s office talked to one of our police supervisors,” Williams said.

He declined to name the supervisor.

“There is an investigation and, depending on the outcome, I’m not sure what action will be required,” he said.

According to records, third-shift Officer Jason Threet pulled over a Black Chrysler 300 driven by William Hyatt Jeffers, 43, of Killen about 2:26 a.m. June 7 on U.S. 72 near Seven Mile Post Road in Athens after seeing his vehicle swerve and leave the road. The Decatur Daily reported that Jeffers’ blood-alcohol content was 0.17 – twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to records.

He was released from the Limestone County Jail after posting a $1,000 bond, according to jail records. His name and the DUI charge were published in the June 9 edition of The News Courier.

Sources said someone tried to have the ticket voided before the complaint was sworn to before a magistrate and before the ticket number and corresponding charge were submitted to the Department of Public Safety.

Every ticket in an officer’s ticket book is prenumbered by the DPS. Once an officer issues a ticket and swears to the information before a magistrate, he sends a form listing the ticket number and corresponding charge – sometimes he sends several at one time – to the DPS. The purpose of the prenumbered tickets is so the tickets can’t simply be torn up. Officers can void tickets if they do it properly. They submit the voided ticket to the DPS as a voided ticket – maybe because there is a mistake on the ticket. In this way, the ticket number is accounted for. It would be a crime to simply destroy a ticket.

The time to try to quash a ticket would be before the arresting officer swore to it before a magistrate and before it was recorded with the DPS. However, the arresting officer would have to do that.

A copy of Jeffers’ ticket shows that Threet did not swear the complaint to the magistrate, June Whitt, until Thursday – 38 days after Jeffers was arrested – which is unusual. What transpired during that time is unclear.

Police Chief Wayne Harper declined to comment on the matter.

“The AG’s office has asked me to refer questions to them in Montgomery,” Harper said. “I just can’t comment one way or another. It is just something I can’t talk about.”

A copy of Jeffers’ ticket lists his court date as July 30 but that does not mean it was put on the court docket. He told The Decatur Daily on Thursday his attorney had told him the case was dismissed. Jeffers could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Attorney General’s Office did not return a telephone call for comment but it typically will not comment on an investigation.