St. Joseph County's prosecuting attorney was arrested for alleged drunk driving in May. | stock photo
St. Joseph County's prosecuting attorney was arrested for alleged drunk driving in May. | stock photo
St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney John McDonough cannot be asked to resign by law, says the County Board of Commissioners, and they will take no further action against him after he was arrested for allegedly driving drunk in May.
The announcement comes after nearly two dozen members of the community asked the Commission to take some sort of action against the prosecutor.
Commissioners called the prosecutor in to answer questions after the citizens complained, which is about all the Commission is allowed to do under these circumstances.
“We can send out a letter to the prosecutor to ask him to come before us to give a report on his office, what’s being done, who’s taking care of it, how it’s been run, and provided that he does that adequately, there’s really no further action we can take,” Commission Chair Dennis Allen said, according to Three Rivers Commercial News. “Now, if the elected official refuses to come before us and make that presentation as we requested, yes, we can move forward and maybe ask for removal or switch or change. But that’s not the case here right now."
On May 11, just before 8 p.m., McDonough was arrested after blowing a 0.107% on a breathalyzer test, but two subsequent tests given later that evening showed him below the legal limit, reported MLive.
The prosecutor himself called 911 after running his car off the road and into a fence, claiming that he crashed due to a "coughing fit," according to MLive.
A witness to the crash, and one of the owners of the property where McDonough crashed his car, told the 911 dispatch that she believed McDonough was intoxicated at the time of the crash, saying he reeked of alcohol and was slurring his words. According to the police reports, the prosecutor left the scene of the crash but then later returned.
McDonough has been out of the office for several weeks due to an undisclosed illness and has been on medication, but he said his doctors have cleared him to return to work in September.
“It was a mistake on my part, and the accident, I think, was a combination of my sickness and a small part of it was what I had to drink,” McDonough said, according to MLive. “Just prior to the crash, I started coughing and I threw up on myself.”
According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is prosecuting the case, McDonough has been charged with drunken driving and having open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, both of which are misdemeanors. The penalty for operating a vehicle under the influence is 93 days in jail and 90 days for having an open intoxicant. Kalamazoo County District Judge Vincent Westra will preside over the case.
McDonough is on Tuesday's Republican Primary ballot.
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