By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — East Harlem Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV said he had been the victim of a prejudiced, dishonest traffic officer after a jury found him guilty of driving while impaired.
He was found guilty Thursday afternoon of a violation, not a crime, and faces a mandatory 90-day driver's license suspension and will pay a $300 fine.
Powell will also have to complete a required drunk driving education program.
The jury acquitted him of a driving while intoxicated charge, a misdemeanor crime that could have resulted in jail time.
"What happened to me is probably what happens to most if not all young men of color in this country," Powell told reporters outside of the courthouse.
"When a cop lies we can all be guilty of something," he added.
After two years of litigation, Powell had the opportunity Thursday to explain his side of the story. He said he had 2.5 drinks throughout a five-hour period while out with his ex-girlfriend and another friend on March 6, 2008, the night of the incident.
He had a single drink, "probably a rum and coke," at a Knicks game halftime and then 1.5 martinis afterwards at a club, he said.
At 210 pounds, the 47-year-old pol said he could not have been over the legal limit.
Powell said the the arresting officer, who testified at his trial, shouted "Step out of the f***king car," an instruction that he calmly followed.
The patrol car's dashboard camera was "conveniently" not recording his alleged swerving and abrupt breaking, he added.
The camera was turned on midway through the 2:30 a.m. stop on the morning of his arrest.
Arresting officer Donald Schneider was the only witness to testify at the one-day trial.
The 10-year state assemblyman, who has been accused of sexual assault in the past, refuted rumors that the woman in the backseat was abused in any way.
"She was my girlfriend," he said. "She was not some strange woman I had taken advantage of."
The woman was taken to the hospital against her wishes because there was no way for her to hail a cab on the West Side Highway, he said.
Powell will lose his driver's license for the second time because of the 2006 arrest. It was suspended for a year in 2008, as ordered by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Though he was not partying "like Amy Winehouse or Mick Jagger" the night he was arrested, Powell was indeed driving over the legal limit, prosecutors said in opening statements on Wednesday.
His roadside test reading was a .07, which is below the .08 legal limit. He also took a sobriety and coordination test, which his lawyer argued he easily passed.
The first Breathalyzer test had not been properly calibrated, the DA argued. After refusing to take a second test at the 28th Precinct, Powell was arrested and charged.
Assistant District Attorney Shawn McMahon argued Powell tried to get out of the traffic stop clean by flashing his state assembly ID to to indicate his status.
He did so, McMahon said, because he knew he was guilty of driving while intoxicated.
"What he provided the officer with is something that says, 'I'm important," the prosecutor said.
Powell is scheduled to appear in court again on May 14 to check in with the judge.
He said he will soon return to Albany for budget negotiations and is still considering a run for the Congressional seat currently held by Charles Rangel.
