Maryland Lawmaker Charged With Drunk Driving

Photograph via Maryland House of Delegates.

Police in Anne Arundel County arrested Maryland Del. Don Dwyer early Tuesday morning and charged the legislator with driving while under the influence of alcohol, impaired driving, speeding, and several other violations. Dwyer’s arrest comes less than two weeks after he pleaded guilty to drunk-driving a powerboat and crashing it into another boat last year.

According to a police report obtained by WTOP, Dwyer, a 55-year-old Republican, was pulled over shortly before 1 AM on Maryland Route 100 in Pasadena. Upon being stopped, the Baltimore Sun reports, Dwyer told a police officer that he was on his way home from a Baltimore bar where he drank two beers.

Dwyer was arrested after struggling with a field sobriety test; he also declined to take a breathalyzer test. Police also found that the registration on Dwyer’s car had expired, the Sun reports.

At least one of Dwyer’s colleagues is already calling for him to quit the Maryland legislature. Del. Ron George, a fellow Anne Arundel Republican and a candidate in next year’s gubernatorial election, called on Dwyer to step down this morning. “Out of concern for others who could be harmed and for Don Dwyer himself, I call on him to resign and get help,” George wrote in a tweet.

Dwyer’s boating incident last Aug. 22 left seven people, including him, injured when his 27-foot craft—named the Legislator—plowed into another boat on the Magothy River. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October. And in June, he was cited by Maryland natural resources authorities for illegal crabbing.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.