A probationary Harrisburg police officer has been placed on unpaid suspension after he was charged with driving under the influence while off-duty last month.
Marc S. Howell, 24, was charged with misdemeanor DUI stemming from an incident in the early hours of May 11 on Interstate 83 in Swatara Township.
According to court records:
Howell pulled over shortly after 2 a.m. on the highway near mile marker 44 after the oversized tires on his pickup truck hit a parked car on the shoulder. The owner of the parked car said she was stopped on the shoulder with her hazard lamps activated when her car was struck. Court records did not provide any description of the damage to her car.
A trooper on patrol said he saw the parked car and pulled over to investigate. He interviewed Howell, who said his pickup truck has 22 by 14 inch tires, which extend beyond the body of the truck. He told the trooper he struck the stopped vehicle due to his wide tires.
The trooper said he smelled the “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage,” from Howell and saw a bar wristband on his left wrist. Howell reportedly admitted to consuming alcohol prior to the crash.
Howell underwent standardized field sobriety testing, which includes a “walk and turn,” and “one-leg stand,” and showed signs of impairment.
Howell agreed to a blood draw at 3:30 a.m., which eventually showed a blood alcohol level of .132 at the time of the draw. The state’s legal limit is .08.
Brian Perry, Howell’s attorney, declined to comment.
Howell has no previous DUI convictions, according to the trooper’s report. He was charged May 30 with two misdemeanors: DUI and DUI with a rate between .10 and .16; and three summary traffic violations: careless driving, failure to stay within a traffic lane and operating with unsafe equipment (extra-wide tires).
On June 6, Howell waived his preliminary hearing.
Police Commissioner Thomas Carter said department procedures are to place someone charged with DUI on administrative duty until a preliminary hearing, then place the person on unpaid suspension after the preliminary hearing pending the outcome of the case.
At least two other local officers have been charged with DUI in recent years, including a former Pennsylvania State Police spokesman and Camp Hill’s former police chief. Both officers were accepted into their respective county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition programs, for first-time offenders, which eventually wiped the non-violent crime off their records.
Howell graduated from the 113th police academy at HACC last July.