Gov. Makes Drunk Driving Arrest

In the tradition of a predecessor who once frisked a drug suspect, Gov. James E. McGreevey pulled over a man he suspected of driving drunk. The governor was on his way home to the governor's mansion in Princeton Tuesday night, with his state trooper driver at the wheel of an unmarked Buick, when he spotted a driver weaving in and out of oncoming traffic on Route 206 in Lawrence Township shortly after 10 p.m.

Trooper Roger Rochinski called local police then turned on the Buick's emergency lights and pulled the man over.

"My grandfather would have been proud," said McGreevey, who often comments on his family's three generations of Jersey City police officers.

Lawrence police soon arrived, and the man was taken to the police station, according to state police spokesman Sgt. Al Della Fave.

Dennis Haren Jr., 33, of Skillman was charged with driving under the influence, said Lawrence police Capt. Joseph Prettyman.

"This guy was twice the legal limit," Prettyman said. "He was a dangerous person on the road."

Prettyman did not know if Haren was aware who had spotted him.

A telephone number for Haren had been disconnected.

While Gov. Christie Whitman created a furor when a photograph of her frisking a drug suspect during a police ride-along in Camden in 1996 was published at the height of New Jersey's racial profiling controversy, McGreevey's action drew praise.

"We at the state police appreciate the governor's timing," said Della Fave, noting the stop came just before Memorial Day weekend. "We'll take all the help we can get."

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Author: 6 ABC-AP