This just in from the Portland police:

In the early morning hours of Thursday September 9, 2010, 47-year-old Portland Police Officer Scott Dunick was arrested off-duty for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants in Northeast Portland at the Gateway Transit Center, located in the 1100 Block of Northeast 99th Avenue. A uniformed Portland Police Officer suspected that Dunick was driving under the influence and called for a supervisor and Traffic Division officers to respond to the scene.

At the time of his arrest, Officer Dunick was on Administrative Leave from the Police Bureau for an unrelated matter. Officer Dunick is an 18-year-veteran of the Portland Police Bureau.

The Portland Police Bureau Internal Affairs Division will review the circumstances of Officer Dunick's arrest.

This happened early yesterday morning, but they're conveniently sending out the press release on it now. Maybe hoping some news teams have already taken off for the weekend? This issue of the Rap Sheet says Dunick was placed on leave in July 2009. UPDATE: He was most recently placed on leave in July 2010, so this is a different leave of absence than the one last year. It is paid administrative leave, but police spokeswoman Lt. Kelli Sheffer says the agency can't discuss anything about why he is on leave because it's a personnel matter.

Police union president Scott Westerman resigned earlier this year after his own car encounter: two back-to-back road rage incidents.

Check back for more on this story as we have it.

UPDATE 4:22 PM— Lt. Sheffer responds that the police department was definitely not trying to delay release of this information to get it less media coverage. "These are employees that have considerations to be made on their behalf, we are trying to balance that with being transparent in getting information out there," says Sheffer. "We were trying to get the information out there as quickly as possible."