Mayor’s aide gets 5-day suspension
City spokesman Bill Brennan is being suspended for five days without pay after his arrest last week for driving under the influence, the mayor's office said yesterday in a news release.
Police said Brennan, 55, was swerving on the freeway before his arrest and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to a police report released yesterday.
Brennan has been on a leave of absence from working as Hannemann's press secretary since the arrest early Friday morning.
"While this incident was in no way related to Brennan's official duties and the case remains pending, Mayor Hannemann reiterated that he takes all issues of public safety very seriously," Hannemann's news release said.
Brennan has agreed to the suspension, and he will take full responsibility for his actions, the release said.
At about 2:20 a.m. Friday a police officer saw Brennan's vehicle swerve onto the right shoulder just prior to the Koko Head Overpass on the eastbound lanes of H-1 freeway.
Police noted that Brennan displayed a "very unsafe side-to-side motion" and began to straddle the driver-side roadway line in a swerve pattern, according to the arrest report.
Brennan left the freeway to go on Waialae Avenue and drove over a marked white safety line dividing the merge. Police said he was still swerving side to side.
A police officer pulled him over at Hunakai Street and Waialae Avenue. The officer noted a strong alcoholic odor coming from Brennan and that his eyes were red, bloodshot and glassy, the report said. Police also noted that Brennan had a hard time retrieving vehicle documents and that his speech was slurred.
Brennan agreed to a field sobriety test but did not pass. Police said Brennan had unstable balance and did not follow instructions. Brennan was arrested at 2:45 a.m.
Police asked Brennan whether he needed to get anything from his vehicle. Brennan said he needed his wallet and cell phone, and was told that the officer had to retrieve the items.
Brennan became "argumentative, saying, 'No I want to grab my wallet and cell phone myself' after police explained three times that the officer had to retrieve it for safety reasons," the report said.
Brennan said "fine" when police opted to instead leave the items in the car. When police offered to move the car to an area where it would not get towed, Brennan said again that he wanted his wallet and cell phone. Police moved the vehicle but left the cell phone and wallet in Brennan's vehicle.
When receiving his blood test, an officer noted that Brennan's Social Security number was blurry and asked him what the numbers were.
Brennan replied that he gave it to police once already, and said, "You figure it out."
Brennan was released after posting $500 bail later that morning.