Allegheny County judge facing DUI charges

PITTSBURGH — An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge is facing driving under the influence charges after allegedly telling arresting troopers she had too much to drink before driving.

Judge Christine Ward, who works in the civil division hearing commerce and complex litigation cases, was on the bench Wednesday when state troopers filed DUI charges against her, alleging that she was drunk behind the wheel over the holiday weekend.%

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According to police paperwork, troopers pulled Ward over in O’Hara Township on Sunday around 5:30 p.m., after an off-duty trooper stopped her for unsafe driving on Route 28 southbound.

A trooper from the Kittanning police barracks wrote in report of the incident that he "...observed Ward to have bloodshot and watery eyes...Ward exhibited difficulty standing on her own as she leaned on her vehicle," and "Ward was asked if she had anything to drink and she replied, 'I did, too much.'"

The trooper then asked Ward to perform a sobriety test.

Court paperwork said that Ward "staggered as she walked...and at one point Ward fell to her side."

Ward was arrested and taken to the hospital for blood work, where police said she refused to submit to the blood test three times.

Ward will go before a judge next week on DUI charges.

Cox Media Group