By Dan Shriner
Review Editor
New details have emerged in the drunken driving arrest of Deputy Oakland County Executive Matthew A. Gibb in 2013 in Emmet County.
Orion Township resident Dave Duenow recently received a copy of the state police report under the state’s Freedom of Information Act and it showed that Gibb had a blood alcohol level of .13 percent when he was arrested. Subsequent tests showed his blood alcohol level peaked at .15 percent after his arrest.
But Gibb never was convicted of drunken driving. He was allowed to plead guilty to having open intoxicants in the vehicle and drunken driving charges were dismissed in the Emmet County case.
Gibb is the deputy Oakland County Executive under L. Brooks Patterson. He is a former Orion Township supervisor.
The state police report, submitted by troopers Michael Kloss and Michael Drogowski, provided some details about the arrest, which occurred on June 7, 2013 in Bear Creek Township.
According to the report, the troopers were in a parking lot observing a traffic light when they saw a black Cadillac come to a near stop at a light there. They began following the car and observed it weaving into the center lane and then back. They stopped the car, which was driven by Gibb.
The car was owned by Orion Township attorney Dan Kelly, who was seated in the backseat. Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett was seated in the front passenger seat. All three had left a nearby casino.
According to the report, a half-empty bottle of beer was in the front console when the car was stopped. The report said officers could smell alcohol on Gibb and he was asked to step out of the car.
Roadside sobriety tests were given. The report said that Gibb told them he had two or three beers that night. When asked to count down from 19, Gibbs stopped counting at 8, then counted from 7 to 2 and stopped, the report stated.
Asked to recite the alphabet, Gibbs recited from A to J and stopped, the report said. Asked to stand on one leg, the report said that Gibb was weaving and unsteady.
When asked if he would submit to a PBT test, Gibb replied ‘sure? the report said.
The PBT showed Gibb’s blood alcohol level was .13 percent. Subsequent tests showed it climbed to .14 and .15 percent after his arrest.
Trooper Drogowski said in the report that he observed Kelly place the bottle of beer into a cooler that was in the backseat. The report said that there were two other half-empty bottles in the cooler. Both Kelly and Barnett denied the beer was theirs and Kelly told troopers that the beer was there from earlier in the evening.
Gibb was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, careless driving and having open intoxicants.
A month later, Emmet county officials agreed to drop the drunken driving and careless driving charges, allowing Gibb to plead guilty to having open intoxicants.
Gibb was represented by Kelly in the case, which some local law enforcement officials said should not have been allowed since Kelly was a party to the arrest.
Kelly admitted that the incident has caused some embarrassment.
‘My representation of Mr. Gibb is public record and it involved nothing to do with the township.
‘We are all capable of mistakes, myself included. I certainly wish that I had not allowed Mr. Gibb to drive that night but I did and it was a mistake. I am certainly glad no one was hurt,? Kelly wrote in a note to Duenow.
The arrest occurred near a casino in the Petoskey area. Several local officials were in the area for a charity golf outing.