WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Aviation Administration has been placed on leave after he was arrested over the weekend in Virginia on a drunken driving charge.
J. Randolph Babbitt, 65, the F.A.A. administrator, was pulled over at 10:30 p.m. Saturday after an officer saw him driving on the wrong side of the road, two blocks from the police station in Fairfax, said Capt. Mike Artone, a spokesman for the police department. The officer arrested Mr. Babbitt after discovering that he was “under the influence of alcohol,” Captain Artone said.
Transportation officials put Mr. Babbitt on leave Monday after he requested it and “are in discussions with legal counsel” about his employment status, the Transportation Department said in a statement. His deputy, Michael Huerta, will manage the aviation agency for now, the statement said.
On Monday afternoon, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said the White House had just learned about the case. He declined to say whether President Obama would ask Mr. Babbitt to resign and directed questions to the Transportation Department.
Mr. Babbitt was charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, said Captain Artone. Mr. Babbitt did not have a passenger in the car and was not involved in a crash, he said.
Captain Artone said he could not discuss Mr. Babbitt’s blood-alcohol concentration. However, under state law a minimum 0.08 blood-alcohol concentration is sufficient to charge a suspect with driving while intoxicated.
Mr. Babbitt was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond Sunday morning, according to jail records. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 2.
Mr. Babbitt did not return phone calls to his home in Reston, Va.
Mr. Babbitt, a pilot for 25 years at Eastern Air Lines and later the head of the Air Line Pilots Association, became head of the aviation agency in June 2009. The job has a five-year term.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=0edf02864933ba4c47c61d197fe64813