Former Pa. Attorney General Kathleen Kane back behind bars after DUI arrest
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is back behind bars after she allegedly violated her probation when she was charged with driving under the influence last month.
Kane surrendered to authorities in Montgomery County on Friday, a day after a judge had issued a bench warrant for her arrest.
Last month, Scranton police were called to the scene of a two-car crash and said Kane was found behind the wheel of an Audi. Asked if she'd been drinking, Kane denied it, pointed to her passenger and said, "It's totally not me," an affidavit said. She told officers she had just picked her sister up and was giving her a ride, police said.
The other driver told police Kane drove into his car at an intersection, according to the affidavit. He said he smelled alcohol as soon as she opened her door. Kane sprayed perfume on herself before officers' arrival and offered to pay to fix the other motorist's car, the affidavit said. Instead, he called police.
Police said Kathleen Kane, 55, told officers she was a designated driver, but surveillance video showed Kane herself had been drinking alcohol at a Scranton restaurant shortly before the crash, according to the affidavit. She also failed a field sobriety test, according to the documents.
Police said Kane refused a blood test.
Once a rising star in Pennsylvania politics, Kane was the first woman and first Democrat elected as the state's top prosecutor. She resigned after being convicted in 2016 of perjury, obstruction and other counts for leaking secret investigative files to embarrass a rival prosecutor.
Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail, serving her time at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in the Philadelphia suburbs. She was released in 2019. She was still on probation at the time of the crash.
She was still on probation at the time the crash.