Mayor's wife accused of DUI

She had a blood-alcohol level three times that of the legal limit.
BEXLEY, Ohio (AP) -- The wife of Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, a Democrat running for governor in 2006, said Friday she was taking full responsibility for her arrest on allegations of drunken driving.
Frankie Coleman's Cadillac hit a pickup about 9 p.m. Thursday in this Columbus suburb, police said. No one else was in her car.
Coleman, 55, failed a field sobriety test, said Bexley Police Sgt. Robert Cull. A blood-alcohol test given to Coleman at the Bexley police station measured 0.271 -- more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, Cull said.
No recollection
Coleman told a police officer that she did not remember driving into a pickup truck, according to a video released on Friday of her arrest.
"What happened here?" Coleman asks on the video.
"What happened here?" an officer responds. "You're involved in an accident."
"No I wasn't," Coleman says.
"You can barely stand," the officer says.
A moment later, the officer tells Coleman he can smell alcohol.
"Well, I had a little bit," she says.
In a brief statement, Coleman thanked friends and family for calls of support Friday.
"I take full responsibility for my actions and I fully acknowledge and regret my mistake," Coleman said.
The charge
Police charged Coleman with two counts of drunken driving, one based on the officers' observations and another based on the blood-alcohol test. She also was charged with failure to control.
Witnesses told police that Coleman swerved to avoid a van and her car hit the pickup truck. A police report said Coleman failed to control her vehicle and hit the truck on its left side.
Coleman appeared initially to be unconscious, witnesses said. A neighbor trying to help her was knocked down accidentally as she tried to get out of the car.
Coleman was released to her husband about 11:30 p.m., Cull said. Frankie Coleman is scheduled to appear in Franklin County Municipal Court on Oct. 27.
The family released a statement early Friday saying Frankie Coleman was not hurt in the accident and was "safe with family and friends."
"Mike and Frankie are dealing with the accident as a family and ask that their privacy be respected," the statement read.
Michael and Frankie Coleman have three children. One son, Lance Cpl. John David "J.D." Coleman, 20, a member of 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, returned from Iraq this month.
A run for governor
Michael Coleman was elected in 1999, becoming Columbus' first Democratic mayor in 28 years. He had no GOP opponent in his 2003 re-election campaign. He announced in February that he would run for governor.
U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon also is seeking the Democratic nomination in the gubernatorial race.
Coleman's campaign, his second statewide run after unsuccessfully seeking election in 1998 as gubernatorial candidate Lee Fisher's running mate, has had several missteps since announcing his candidacy in February.
In late April and early May, Coleman tussled with syndicated radio host Glenn Beck and stayed away from a convention of black mayors' session in Columbus after the group invited Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Coleman also saw his chief political adviser arrested on a drunken-driving charge.
This month, Frankie Coleman was invited but later declined to present a proclamation welcoming the Rev. Rod Parsley's Reformation Ohio, a conservative Christian group, to the city.