Idaho Sen. Michael Crapo was arrested a charge of driving under the influence early today after he allegedly ran a red light in Alexandria, Va., police said.In 2009, Crapo voted against a second four-year term for Ben Benanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
The Idaho Republican was arrested without incident after he failed a field sobriety test, Alexandria police spokesman Jody Donaldson told ABC News Radio.
Crapo was released on a $1,000 bond, and has a court date scheduled for Jan. 4, 2013.
Crapo released a statement apologizing for the incident.
“I am deeply sorry for the actions that resulted in this circumstance,” Crapo said. “I made a mistake for which I apologize to my family, my Idaho constituents and any others who have put their trust in me. I accept total responsibility and will deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter. I will also undertake measures to ensure that this circumstance is never repeated.”
UPDATE: Crapo is a practicing Mormon, but not practicing very well. Mormons, of course, believe they should not drink alcohol.
Sounds like Crapo was shit drunk.
ReplyDeleteDriving under the influence. Another non crime. The real crime here was running the red light. The fact that there was alcohol in his blood may have contributed to that, but my mother has ran a light stone cold sober before, just because she wasn't paying attention. For ordinary people, a DUI alone can devastate your life. They are very expensive and could result in termination of employment, depending on where you work. But it shouldn't affect a Senator very much at all. Except his auto insurance will skyrocket and he may not be allowed to drive for a while. One could argue that even running the light, in and of itself, need not be criminal. How many times have you sat at a red light for an extended period with no one around? Lights and signs are necessary for establishing fault in the event of a collision but that is about it. We have all seen the videos which show how much smoother and more efficiently traffic flows when traffic lights are not working at all.
ReplyDeleteDrunk driving mania serves a number of purposes. One being an excuse for the roughly 40,000 fatalities annually. Can you imagine if a private company operated the roads? 40,000 deaths? Another is the monetary benefit to the state. Drunk driving is a classic case of "moral panic". If people were really concerned about road safety they would crack down on speeders. The faster you drive the greater the stopping distance and the more forceful the collision. And, of course, speed is involved in 100% of road fatalities.
DeleteSpeed is only involved in 100% of road fatalities because of the way it is documented. Even if speeding is not a factor, and you are going the speed limit, you will get a ticket for excessive speed. The cops will claim that "under the circumstances, you were going too fast and the collision is proof of this". So yes, when 100% of these accidents have excessive speed tickets issued because they got in a collision when their car was moving, then it appears "speeding" is always the cause. It is awful hard for two parked cars to collide with one another.
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