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Blood Test Shows Jayson Williams Was Wasted During Crash


By

John Del Signore

Published Feb 18, 2010

Modified Feb 18, 2010


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Surveillance image of the crash at left, Williams partying with new friends earlier that night at right, via Stalking Steve Phillips.

 


By

John Del Signore

Published Feb 18, 2010

Modified Feb 18, 2010


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Tests show that former Nets player Jayson Williams's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit after he crashed his Mercedes SUV into a tree in Manhattan last month. After his blood was finally tested at Bellevue, the results came back at 0.19 (it was previously rumored to have been .24, thrice the legal limit). But still, driving drunk at twice the legal limit is enough to double his trouble—the DA wants Williams, 41, to serve a year in jail, the maximum DWI punishment, after he does time for his other crimes.

Williams is awaiting sentencing next week in the accidental shooting of his limo driver in 2002; he's expected to get 18 months in prison and up to five years for trying to cover up the crime. Naturally, his lawyer thinks he should do his DWI time simultaneously, but the DA isn't having it, calling that option "the equivalent of no jail sentence at all," according to court papers filed last week. But Williams's lawyer Linda Kenney Baden tells the AP, "This is much ado about nothing. It's the tail wagging the dog here."

Really? Isn't it more like the sloppy drunk dog wagging his tail at the law after pounding drinks with college kids, swerving across four lanes of traffic on the FDR, and crashing into a tree? Williams has pleaded not guilty to drunken-driving charges.

Tagged

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blood alcohol

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jayson williams

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John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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