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DUI charge for drug abuse council member
Published Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Marion Matthews
A member of the city’s Substance Abuse and Youth Council and a former School Board candidate was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol on Christmas Day.
Marion H. Matthews, 76, was charged with driving under the influence and refusing to take a blood or breath test, said Debbie George, spokeswoman for the city.
Matthews disputes the charges, saying some aspects of the alleged incident are untrue.
Suffolk Police received a call on Dec. 25, George said. The caller, who was not identified, reported seeing a vehicle operating in a reckless manner. The car’s description and location were broadcast, and an officer spotted the vehicle on East Pinner Street a short time later, George said.
Because the car was still operating in a reckless manner, George said, the officer initiated a traffic stop.
“The driver was placed under arrest after failing field sobriety test,” George said in an e-mail. The driver also refused to take a blood or breath test, George said.
Matthews, in a telephone interview Tuesday night, acknowledged going to a party on Christmas Day, but said she hadn’t had “a lot” to drink.
“We just had a little fun, and had too much fun,” she said.
Matthews said she was driving as she and some friends were returning from the party. She wouldn’t say where the party was.
“We did have a few drinks,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot.”
Matthews said she was falsely arrested and accused, and that rumors are being spread that are “not exactly what was going on.”
“Some accusations were made that were not really as they were,” she said. “People saying that you had a lot to drink when you didn’t have a lot.”
Matthews also said that it was untrue that she had refused a blood or breath test, and then declined to talk any more about the incident.
The Substance Abuse and Youth Council, which is a City Council-appointed, unpaid board, exists “to educate citizens in the community, especially the youth, concerning the effects of drug abuse of every kind and nature upon the physical and mental well being of the user and to suggest and provide, as far as possible, alternative activities,” according to the city Web site.
George said she was unsure of the city’s policy for what to do when a member of a Council-appointed board is charged with a crime.
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Comments
Posted by unknown (anonymous) on December 31, 2008 at 11:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I can see this woman trying to clear herself of this due to her affiliation with the substance abuse program. One problem I have with that is that I was there and witnessed this. I am the driver of the vehicle that was going over the Pinner Street bridge and had to slam on brakes and stop due to this woman completly in the wrong lane coming at me head on. She somehow managed to miss me by 3 to 4 feet. If she had made it to a higher traffic road, she may have killed herself of someone else. Hopefully she will learn something from this.
Posted by Factfinder (anonymous) on January 1, 2009 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
She deserves to be treated like any other drunk driver, no matter where she works or what she does.
Posted by BEAR54 (anonymous) on January 2, 2009 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
another one that things just a little to drink and she's not drunk look at the age 76 and on med to woooooooo don't mix med and drink
good thing she was not on 58
Posted by joanip01 (anonymous) on January 3, 2009 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If she was indeed drinking and driving she should be removed immediatley from her position and seek help for her problem.
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