Drunk driving: Ex-US ambassador arrested

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON: Former US ambassador Ryan Crocker is facing hit-and-run and drunken driving charges in Washington state after striking a semi-truck when he tried to make a right turn from the left lane, The Associated Press reported on Friday.

The 63-year-old Spokane native registered a .160 blood-alcohol content — twice the legal limit — and a .152 in successive breath tests when was arrested Aug. 14 in Spokane Valley, Washington State Patrol Trooper Troy Briggs said.

Crocker, who was driving a 2009 Ford Mustang convertible, was stopped in the left lane at a red light. And when the light turned green, he tried to turn right across the path of the semi in the right lane, Briggs said. The vehicles collided and Crocker’s car spun out, but he kept driving, Briggs said. A witness followed him to a nearby bank and called police.

“He was very cooperative but obviously intoxicated,” Briggs said. Crocker pleaded not guilty in court the next day, KXLY-TV reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2012.