US Airways CEO is DUI suspect...

[Art Vandelay]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=83778&source=rss&dest=STY-83778

Just hours after losing a $10 billion bid to take over Delta Air Lines last week, US Airways? top executive Doug Parker was arrested in Scottsdale on suspicion of drunken driving.

The CEO of the Tempe-based airline was clocked in his black BMW at 65 mph ? 20 miles faster than the posted speed limit ? on Jan. 31 at Pima Road just south of Bell Road, according to a police report.

Parker told the officer who pulled him over that he was coming from the Bird?s Nest, a nightly party at the FBR Open golf tournament, where he told police he downed three beers in two hours, according to the report. Two passengers were with him.

A US Airways spokeswoman told the Tribune late Thursday the 45-year-old executive, whose given name is William Douglas Parker, was giving friends a ride after they had too much to drink. Parker declined to comment. But the spokeswoman, Elise Eberwein, said she talked to him about the arrest.

Eberwein said Parker told her he ?is embarrassed beyond words and knows more is expected of him.?

She added: ?Knowing Doug, I do know he would not get behind the wheel of a car if he felt too impaired to drive.?

During the 11:30 p.m. traffic stop that night, the officer?s report noted Parker had watery eyes, alcohol on his breath and slurred speech. Eberwein said the description ?shocked and mortified? Parker.

Parker went through roadside sobriety tests before the officer took him to a nearby outpost to draw his blood and officially book him.

Scottsdale police spokesman Sgt. Mark Clark said Parker was released and sent home in a taxi, a normal procedure during DUI crackdowns.

The arrest means Parker?s blood-alcohol level is believed to have been above the legal limit of .08.

Just how much alcohol was in Parker?s system will be determined when a crime lab tests his blood, Clark said.

Those results were not available late Thursday when police confirmed the arrest, which Clark said took place without incident.

Parker told Eberwein he believes the results will show his blood-alcohol level was below the limit, she said.

In November, Parker and US Airways made their first moves to acquire Delta, which is in bankruptcy.

The merger would have created the largest carrier in the nation. Delta, however, fought off the deal, and convinced its creditors not to cave to US Airways.

Parker, a Paradise Valley resident, has been CEO of US Airways since 2005. He was CEO of America West Airlines before it merged with US Airways.

If convicted, Parker could be ordered to pay a $500 fine, spend from one to 10 days in jail, lose his driver?s license for 30 days and be put on probation for five years.

 

[Gibson486]

don't really care. he is a normal person like most of us. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[Ricochet]

....three beers in two hours...Whoa there, tiger.

Doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. Not even news worthy.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: ricochet
....three beers in two hours...Whoa there, tiger.

Doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. Not even news worthy.

We're getting to the point that Bars will be outlawed and Prohibition again.

Yes, some of it is the fault of alcohol abusers but the whole country should not suffer the restriction of it's rights because of a few bad apples.

Nanny State :thumbsup:

 

[alkemyst]

Are CEO's not supposed to drink?


I am sympathic to DUI accidents, but they are not the problem that they are made out to be and the amount of money that goes into it is staggering. However; those lobbys are the most powerful in the nation and they are not just pushing DUI stuff through our system.


*MOST* people that drink will have driven at a point where they will have failed a 0.08 breath test. The breath test in itself is a flawed test from a scientific standpoint, but it's hard to test invasively road side (measuring the quantity of blood in one's breath to get the alcohol content of the blood would never hold up in the science world).


I don't know the exact time cutoffs but something like from 10pm Friday through 2am sunday a high percentage of people on the roads 9pm-4am will be over the limit. These people are not killing others left and right. When they do wreck it's usually a non-injury or driver only one.


I am not supporting drinking and driving, but most do not understand WTF they are talking about when referencing it. It's purely a revenue system with good people unknowingly feeding into it.