A former Utah Highway Patrol DUI squad leader who resigned after a drunken driving arrest was cuffed again this week on suspicion of driving a semi after drinking, police said.

Fred Swain, 44, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor drunken driving charges Wednesday. He resigned from the Highway Patrol three years ago and was employed as a semitrailer driver when he pulled into the port of entry at the Utah border near St. George early Monday afternoon, said UHP Sgt. Jeff Nigbur. As Swain weighed the truck and filled out paperwork, an employee noticed he smelled of alcohol and asked him to take a Breathalyzer test, Nigbur said. He refused, and the employee called the Highway Patrol.

When troopers arrived, he allegedly refused field sobriety tests again.

Swain had been driving erratically at least since Flagstaff, Ariz., when police there put out an attempt-to-locate message, Nigbur said.

"With the information we had at the time, we made the arrest," he said. Swain was booked into jail and later charged with driving under the influence and being an alcohol restricted driver, both class B misdemeanors, in Washington County justice court.

"He is an ex-employee, an ex-lieutenant and trooper, but obviously we don't do anything different," Nigbur said. "We treated it the same as we would any other DUI."

If Swain is found guilty, penalties for this DUI will be harsher because he was driving a semi, Nigbur said.

Swain was a lieutenant and head of the UHP's DUI squad before he crashed his police cruiser into a concrete barrier in June 2006. He was charged with driving under the influence and resigned from the Highway Patrol. He later pleaded guilty to alcohol-related reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor.