US Airways CEO booked on DUI charge

US Airways CEO booked on DUI charge

	Published : Sat, 10 Feb 2007 03:27 By : Agencies Print this Story

PHOENIX (AFX) - US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving just hours after his airline's $9.8 billion bid for Delta Air Lines was rejected last week, Scottsdale police confirmed Friday.

Parker, 45, was pulled over at 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, after leaving a party at the FBR Open golf tournament in Scottsdale, police Sgt. Mark Clark said. He was pulled over for driving 20 mph over the posted speed limit of 45 mph, police said.

Results released Friday show Parker had a blood-alcohol level of 0.096, according to Clark. The legal limit in Arizona is 0.08.

According to a police report, Parker told police he had three beers during a two-hour period.

The arresting officer, Ben Roberson, wrote in the police report that Parker had bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech and alcohol on his breath. Parker refused to take a breathalyzer test, the report shows.

The officer performed roadside sobriety tests and arrested Parker. He then took Parker to a DUI task force post for booking and to have blood drawn for an alcohol-level test. Before the test was given, the report shows Parker asked to speak with a lawyer who also had been a passenger in his black BMW when he was pulled over.

The lawyer told Parker over the phone to take the test, the report shows.

Parker, a husband and father of three children who lives in the posh town of Paradise Valley, was cited for DUI and driving at an imprudent speed and released the night of his arrest. Police called a taxi for him and had his car towed.

Parker is scheduled to appear in Scottsdale Municipal Court on Feb. 21.

Parker was not immediately available for comment Friday, but vice president of communications Elise Eberwein said late Thursday that Parker 'is embarrassed beyond words and knows more is expected of him.

'Knowing Doug, I do know he would not get behind the wheel of a car if he felt too impaired to drive,' Eberwein said.

The airline said it would have no further comment on the incident Friday.

In letters to US Airways employees, Parker apologized. He said he was in too much of a hurry the night of his arrest, but that he was honest about how much he drank and didn't believe his blood-alcohol level would be over the legal limit.

'I will accept the consequences of my actions and I will ensure that it doesn't happen again,' he wrote.

US Airways made a hostile bid for bankrupt Delta on Nov. 15. and later raised its bid by nearly 20 percent in hopes of swaying the carrier's official committee of unsecured creditors.

But the creditors rejected the offer on Jan. 31, and Parker pulled the bid within minutes of being informed of the move.

Parker said Thursday he wouldn't have done anything differently in regards to the Delta bid.

'The creditors just chose not to go with our proposal,' he said. 'We think our proposal was better, but it was their prerogative, and we left on our own terms.'