One of New York State’s legislative leaders is facing a drunk driving charge. State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb was arrested on New Year's Eve after a property damage accident in Ontario County.
The DWI charge was filed after the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department responded to the accident in the Town of Victor at about 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. It involved Kolb’s state-owned SUV, a GMC Acadia, and the accident happened close to his home.
No one was injured. A passerby saw the vehicle in a ditch and called it in.
Kolb was asked to submit to a breathalyzer test. He consented, and was processed at the county jail on a misdemeanor charge of DWI as well as a charge of making an unsafe turn. He was later released.
Sheriff Kevin Henderson emphasized that Kolb is not getting special treatment.
“The way Mr. Kolb was treated would be like anyone else that was charged with this type of offense," Henderson said.
"I take great pride in this office and the deputies that work for me and there was no implications of any improprieties in regards to any favors, Mr. Kolb is being treated like anybody else."
Kolb, a Republican who has represented that area in the Assembly since 2000 and has been minority leader since 2009, says that he is profoundly sorry, saying that he made the wrong decision and it is one that he deeply regrets.
The arrest came just a week after he wrote a newspaper column warning citizens against getting behind the wheel drunk. News of Kolb's arrest led fellow Republican Assemblymember Kieran Michael Lalor to call for him to step down.
