State Rep. Cherelle Parker challenges her April DUI arrest in Germantown

State Rep. Cherelle Parker testified Tuesday in a bid to get evidence in her drunken-driving case thrown out.

Parker was charged with driving under the influence after an April 30 traffic stop in Germantown.  

Police claimed Parker drove the wrong way down a one-way stretch of Haines Street and admitted to drinking several alcoholic beverages.  Police said a Breathalyzer test on her produced a .16 percent blood alcohol reading.  Anything over a .08 percent level constitutes drunken driving.

The issues are whether the stop was proper and if officers were adequately trained to calibrate the Breathalyzer equipment.

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Both Parker and the arresting officers testified before Judge Charles Hayden, who is expected rule Nov. 1 on Parker’s bid to have all the evidence against her tossed out.

Parker maintains she wasn’t even on that block, and that she only drank one chocolate martini.

Parker’s office referred calls to her attorney, Joseph Kelly, who questioned the account of the traffic stop given by Officers Israel Miranda and Stephanie Allen.

“The officers said there were no other cars on Haines Street, which I find impossible since it leads into Germantown Avenue and is busy any time of the day,” Kelly said Wednesday. He also argued that the Breathalyzer wasn’t “properly calibrated.”

The prosecution is being handled by the state Attorney General’s Office since District Attorney Seth Williams immediately recused his office from prosecuting the case because he’s friends with Parker, his spokeswoman, Tasha Jamerson, said.

Deputy State Attorney General Marc Costanzo said the hearing was based on a defense motion to suppress Parker’s alleged statements the night of her arrest.

The officers maintained Parker told them she drank “a couple beers and two chocolate martinis” while Parker maintains she only drank one martini, Costanzo said.

Kelly said the reputational damage of the arrest is “part of the reason she’s fighting this. She never travelled [on Haines]. If she did, she’d accept responsibility, but has to fight this because the accusations have no merit.”

Parker represents state House District 200, which covers Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, Cedarbrook and parts of Roxborough and West Oak Lane.

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