Sullivan

WARWICK — The state police charged state Rep. Raymond J. Sullivan Jr., D-Coventry, with drunken driving, saying the House deputy majority leader was unable to recite the alphabet after troopers stopped his car on Route 95 early Wednesday.

Accompanied by a lawyer, Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill, who is a deputy House speaker, Sullivan was brought before a bail commissioner at the Wickford barracks, and was released pending an appearance in District Court, Warwick, on May 4, according to state police Capt. James Swanberg.

Swanberg said two troopers on traffic duty saw Sullivan’s car weave into the breakdown lane of the highway shortly after 1 a.m., and when they followed it, the car continued to move erratically until they stopped it.

He said the troopers performed field sobriety tests, including a request for Sullivan to recite the alphabet, which he failed to do.

“Based on slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and a strong smell of alcoholic beverage as he spoke, they arrested him,” Swanberg said.

A chemical breath test at the barracks indicated that Sullivan’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, Swanberg said.

The limit is .08 percent. Swanberg said Sullivan’s reading was 0.17.

He said the troopers also issued traffic tickets to Sullivan for leaving the lane of travel, operating without evidence of insurance and operating without evidence of registration.

Sullivan issued a statement Wednesday afternoon: “For more than four years, I have served the hard-working people of Coventry and West Greenwich with honor and integrity at the State House. … I will continue to do so and I want to assure my constituents that this matter will not affect my tireless representation of their concerns. I plan to address the circumstances related to [the arrest] … in the appropriate venue, which is the judiciary. As this is a pending matter before the courts, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Sullivan, 32, was first elected to the legislature in 2004. He was Rhode Island campaign manager for President Obama.

William Fischer, a spokesman for Sullivan, said that although Representative O’Neill accompanied Sullivan in his appearance before the bail commissioner, Richard Humphrey will represent him in future proceedings.

tmorgan@projo.com

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the blood-alcohol limit in Rhode Island, which is .08.