LaPorte County prosecutors have charged Hudson Township’s elected trustee with drunken driving.
Police arrested the trustee, 28-year-old Republican Austin Kosinski, on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, endangering a person. At about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, or late Halloween night, court records say a LaPorte County sheriff’s deputy arrested Kosinski at a U.S. 20 gas station.
The officer was responding to a reported crash there after Kosinski admitted hitting another vehicle in the parking lot. The officer noticed signs of intoxication and Kosinski said he had a few beers at a party about three hours earlier. A portable breathalyzer measured his blood alcohol content at .14, nearly twice the legal limit.
Because Kosinski refused to take a chemical test, the court notified the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to immediately suspend his license as required by law. But this week Superior Judge Greta Friedman granted Kosinski’s request for an ignition interlock device instead of a license suspension. That’s a device attached to the vehicle that prevents it from starting unless the defendant has breathed into it without alcohol in their breath.
Kosinski did not reply to our interview request Friday.
