WASHINGTON – Maryland Del. Don Dwyer has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, impaired driving, negligent driving, speeding and other charges two weeks after pleading guilty to operating a boat while drunk during a 2012 crash that left seven people injured, including himself.
Anne Arundel County police say Dwyer, R-Anne Arundel, was arrested early Tuesday in Pasadena, Md.
He was “swerving literally across two and three lanes at a time, also onto the shoulder and back,” said Justin Mulcahy, with the Anne Arundel County police. “The officer was fearing for the safety of anyone in that vehicle or anyone on the road at that time.”
Charging documents say an officer stopped Dwyer’s car, which was bearing Maryland House of Delegates tags, on Md. 100 near Edwin Raynor Boulevard.
Dwyer told a responding officer he was coming from a tavern in Baltimore, and had two beers earlier in the evening.
“They smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from the driver. That, coupled with slow, slurred speech and red eyes was certainly suspicious,” Mulcahy says.
The officer says Dwyer performed poorly during three field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest.
Dwyer refused a breath test, according to police.
“He certainly has that right,” Mulcahy says. “But his license will automatically be suspended pending a review from motor vehicle administration.”
Earlier this month, Dwyer pleaded guilty on the drunken boating charge in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
Three months earlier, he’d pleaded guilty to the same charge in district court, but decided to appeal to the higher court.
Dwyer will be sentenced on the boating charge Oct. 25.
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