Lawmaker Who Warned Against Drunk Driving Arrested for DUI

republican lawmaker arrested for DWI after writing column against it.

Just days after writing an op-ed warning people against driving drunk during the holiday season, the top Republican in the New York State Assembly has been charged with driving while intoxicated in his state-issued vehicle.

Authorities say they were called out to a crash in Victor, New York, around 10:30 p.m. New Year's Eve, where a vehicle had crashed into a ditch. There, deputies found Brian Kolb, who has represented his district located outside Rochester for the last twenty years, to be the driver of the 2018 GMC Acadia that had crashed in front of the state lawmaker's home.

A deputy with the Ontario County Sheriff's office performed field sobriety tests, which Kolb failed. At the jail, Kolb's blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit of 0.08 percent, Ontario County Sheriff Kevin Henderson said.

No one else was injured in the accident, authorities said.

Kolb acknowledged his arrest in a a brief statement on Wednesday, saying there was no excuse.

"I fully recognize the severity of the situation and I am profoundly sorry," Kolb said. "There is no excuse and no justification for what occurred Tuesday evening. I made the wrong decision, and it is one I deeply regret."

"This was a terrible lapse in judgment, one I have urged others not to make, and I take full responsibility for it," he added.

Only a week before his arrest, Kolb authored a column that appeared in a local newspaper that warned against drivers taking the wheel when they've been driving and that it was an especially bad decision during the holidays, writing that: "tragedy can be only one bad decision away."

Kolb has been charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and released pending a future court appearance.

Photo: Ontario County Sheriff's Department


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