GARY— Indiana State Police didn’t drop their drunken driving case against city spokeswoman Chelsea Whittington after all.
On Oct. 17, four months after Trooper Gary Runde stopped Whittington, 42, near 47th Avenue and Broadway, she was charged with operating while intoxicated and disregarding a traffic signal.
A hearing set for Friday in Lake Superior Court in Hammond has been rescheduled for March 25.
Her attorney, Thomas Vanes, said he asked prosecutors to review the case. “It’s sitting in the prosecutor’s hands for re-evaluation,” Vanes said, adding he doesn’t believe evidence exists to pursue the criminal charge..
The charges were filed based on troopers’ observations and the video recording from the squad car, sources said. She was not administered any alcohol test at the scene, was not arrested and was allowed to go home. She did not, however, drive herself, police said.
On June 14, Whittington was returning from a reunion celebration with West Side High School classmates at Gleason Park when she caught the attention of Trooper Gary Runde. He stopped her near Romeo’s bar on Broadway. “She immediately identified herself,” ISP spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Wojas said at the time.
A state police supervisor called Gary police supervisors, who declined to involve themselves in the situation. Gary police said they were told at the scene that Runde had performed a “preliminary field sobriety test,” which Whittington failed. But Wojas said she was told no such test was administered. Wojas said at the time that her department’s standard procedure would be to perform sobriety tests on any driver stopped for suspicion of drunken driving.