Personal Injury Law

Putnam County Official Has Second DWI Arrest In 13 Months

By Mark Siesel, Esq.

Putnam County Official Michael Rights, the Southeast Town Supervisor, was arrested at 3:00 AM this past Sunday on DWI charges when he failed to dim his bright lights and allegedly failed several Field Sobriety Tests at the scene. Rights was taken to police headquarters in Carmel and a chemical test apparently revealed that he had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of above 0.08, the legal limit for a New York drunk driving charge.

This is the second time in 13 months that Mr. Rights has been charged with drunk driving. In June, 2007, Mr. Rights crashed his 2005 Jaguar on Milltown Road in Southeast, was trapped in his overturned car, and at Westchester Medical Center, was found to have a BAC of 0.12. Amazingly, despite the charges, (Rights pled guilty to the reduced charge of Driving While Ability Impaired in December of 2007), he was elected Town Supervisor in November of 2007, after sending a mailer asking that voters forgive his actions.

Mr. Rights claims that because he is trying to "clean up" the towns of Brewster and Southeast, he is being targeted by local officials, and has questioned the circumstances of his arrest, including being stopped for the simple violation of failing to turn off his bright lights. He is due in Southeast Town Court on August 20 on two DWI charges. Rights faces up to one year in the County jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of drunk driving.

Full post as published by New York Legal Blog on July 25, 2008 (boomark / email).