Harford Delegate Gets 2 Days In Jail For Impaired Driving

A Maryland lawmaker will be on supervised probation and spend time in jail due to driving while impaired by alcohol last summer in Ocean City.

Delegate Rick Impallaria, who represents parts of Baltimore and Harford counties, was sentenced this week to 60 days in jail, with all but two days suspended, according to court records.

He will also serve 18 months of probation.

Related: Maryland Delegate Cited for Allegedly Driving While Impaired

Impallaria, who has addresses listed in Joppa and Essex, was cited for driving a 2000 Ford while impaired by alcohol the evening of Aug. 18, 2016.

Court records show that he received probation before judgment for a drunk driving charge in 1997 in Baltimore County.

Prosecutors requested a "hefty sentence" of 60 days in jail, rather than the standard of 10 days, due to his record — which included the following — according to Ocean City Today:

• 52 traffic citations
• collision involving a fatality (with no criminal charges)
• assault conviction for attempting to hit his mother and brother with his vehicle
• conviction for attempting to bribe a police officer (in prior case)

According to Ocean City Today, the police actions leading up to Impallaria's arrest in August led the judge to knock time off the sentence because the officer saw an open container and waited for the delegate to get into his vehicle before intervening.

At the time of the August 2016 incident, the 54-year-old was reportedly in Ocean City attending the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference, where lawmakers communicate about issues at the state level.
The delegate was said to have attended a Republican caucus event before getting pulled over.

At the station in Worcester County, Impallaria reportedly blew a .07 into the Breathalyzer.

The legal limit for drinking and driving in Maryland is .08, so Impallaria was cited for driving while impaired rather than driving under the influence, which is more serious.

He was found guilty in a trial on Jan. 4 and sentenced on Friday, April 21. It was not clear when he would serve his two-day sentence.

According to The Washington Post, Impallaria lost his leadership positions of deputy minority whip and Harford County delegation chair in the last year.

Photo via Maryland State Archives.