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The Detroit Free Press issued this information:
LANSING — A state lawmaker was speeding at 80 miles per hour, swerving in and out of lanes and was confused about where he was coming from when a sheriff’s deputy stopped him just north of Lansing on Nov. 9, according to records obtained by the Free Press today.
John Kivela, 46, has been charged under the state’s “super drunk” law, which is still a misdemeanor but carries higher potential penalties, including jail time for a first offense, Clinton County Prosecutor Chuck Sherman said Friday.
“That’s the charge that’s warranted by the evidence,” Sherman told the Free Press.
An arraignment date in district court in St. Johns has not been set, he said.
Kivela, a Democrat from Marquette who had an open bottle of whiskey in his pickup truck, identified himself as a state representative and pleaded to be let off before blowing nearly three times the legal limit in a series of breath tests, according to a report from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. A blood alcohol content of .08 is considered legally drunk in Michigan. A reading of at least .17 is required for a “super drunk” charge.
Kivela, who spent a night in the Clinton County Jail after his arrest on U.S.-127, is charged with operating under the influence, speeding and having open alcohol in his vehicle.
The second-term lawmaker from the Upper Peninsula issued a statement on Nov. 10 that said he was seeking treatment for alcoholism.
“I am truly sorry to my wife, family and constituents for letting them down,” said Kivela, a former auto dealer and mayor of Marquette.
Kivela did not immediately return a phone message Friday.
Clinton Sheriff’s Office Deputy Scott Clarke said in a report that before stopping Kivela at about 9:20 p.m., he was advised to “be on the lookout for a red pickup swerving in and out of lanes driving southbound on U.S.-127,” toward Lansing, “also using the shoulder.”
The deputy spotted Kivela’s vehicle and paced it at 80 m.p.h. In a 70-m.p.h. Zone before seeing it almost rear-end another vehicle while attempting to pass it, the report said.
Once stopped, Kivela smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot, watery eyes, had difficulty with coordination tests, and was unable to stand on one leg, the report said.
“Mr. Kivela stated he was en route to Lansing as he is a state representative,” Clarke said in the report.
He “stated he had two beers in Flint approximately three hours prior to my contact with him. Mr. Kivela seemed confused as to where he was coming from or how he got there,” but ultimately said he was on his way from Marquette to Lansing with a stop in Flint.
“I asked him if he knew he was all over the road. He stated he didn’t.”
In a roadside breath test, Kivela showed a blood alcohol content of .238. Later at the sheriff’s office, Kivela gave readings of .19, .23 and .22.
“Mr. Kivela pled with me multiple times to let him go and stated he’d sit in the (expletive) weeds if I just let him go, and repeated multiple times ‘please, please,’ ” the deputy said in the report.
The deputy found a 750-ml bottle of Seagram’s Seven Crown whiskey, about two-thirds full, behind the driver’s seat.
