UPDATE: County GOP chairman faces DWI, other charges after accident in Sparta

Gerard “Jerry” Scanlan, 55, of Andover was charged with driving while intoxicated Sunday, Feb. 19, police said.

Scanlan is chairman of the Sussex County Republican Committee.

About 6:30 p.m, Sparta police responded to the intersection of Woodport Road and Winona Parkway on a report of a rear-end motor-vehicle accident involving a Lexus and a Nissan truck.

No one was injured in the crash.

Officer Michael Poon spoke with Scanlan, driver of the truck, and suspected that he had been consuming alcoholic beverages, police said.

Scanlan was asked to perform field sobriety tests, then was placed under arrest, police said. He was taken to Sparta Police headquarters for breathalyzer testing.

When that was completed, he was charged with DWI, reckless driving and careless driving.

He was given a court date and released to a sober adult.

• Margo Peterson, 23, of Lafayette was charged with driving while intoxicated Feb. 11 after a driver went through a stop sign and almost struck a patrol car, police said.

About 11:15 p.m., Officer Thomas Herd saw a white sedan approaching the intersection of Route 181 and Blue Heron Road at a high rate of speed. The car went through the stop sign, then went the wrong way onto the Route 15 South off-ramp.

Herd detected the odor of alcohol in the car and asked the driver, Peterson, to step out and perform field-sobriety tests. She then was arrested and taken to police headquarters.

After completing Breathalyzer tests, she also was charged with careless driving, failure to keep right, wrong way on roadway and failure to stop at intersection. She was given a court date and released to a sober adult.

• Aviva Nachman, 24, of Montclair was charged with driving while intoxicated Feb. 9 after her car was seen weaving and crossing over lines on the road, police said.

About 9 p.m., Officer Paul Wenzel saw a black Subaru Impreza traveling north on Woodport and weaving. After stopping the vehicle, he saw an open backpack with two bottles of vodka inside.

Nachman was asked to perform field-sobriety tests, then arrested and taken to police headquarters.

She also was charged with open container in a motor vehicle, careless driving, failure to keep right and failure to produce a valid registration.

She was given a court date and released to a sober adult. The car was impounded for a mandatory 12-hour period.