1 Photo
Catherine Stark
Suffolk County Legislator-elect Catherine Stark was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor, after being pulled over by Riverhead Town Police on December 3.
Stark, 60, was elected in November to replace Al Krupski as Suffolk County’s 1st District legislator after Krupski left his post to successfully run for Southold Town supervisor. Stark, a Republican, had worked for the Democrat Krupski as a legislative aide before running for office this year.
According to multiple news reports, Stark pleaded not guilty to the charges on December 4 in Riverhead Town Justice Court after spending the night at police headquarters in Riverhead following her arrest.
She reportedly told the police officer who pulled her over that she had taken one or two oxycodone pills for back pain, according to media reports from Newsday, News 12 Long Island and the local Riverhead press. Oxycodone is an opioid used to treat pain.
Stark’s attorney, Steven Losquadro, told the court, and reporters in attendance at the arraignment, that Stark had taken the drugs because of what he said was a “previously undisclosed” cancer diagnosis, though Stark’s campaign website notes that she is a cancer survivor.
In a statement, he said she had taken the drugs “hours” before she was arrested, according to Newsday’s report on the arraignment. Stark’s oncologist prescribed her drugs to help treat her cancer, he told the court, and he suggested that she ultimately would be released from the charge.
Stark was charged with DWAI following a 911 call to Riverhead Town Police at around 2:30 p.m. on December 3 that reported an erratic driver around Pondview Road, according to the initial police report.
The DWAI charge includes possible fines and penalties of up to one year in jail.
According to federal Food and Drug Administration guidance to physicians, “patients should be advised” that oxycodone-based pharmaceutical products “may impair mental and/or physical ability required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks (e.g., driving, operating heavy machinery).”
Under state law, a person can be convicted of DWAI if they take prescribed medication but don’t follow warning-label instructions regarding the dangers of driving while under their influence, or if they take prescribed medication but don’t follow a doctor’s orders regarding driving or other activities while they are taking the drug.
