Former Northumberland County Commissioner in the news

State employee charged with DUI

Submitted from the Patriot-News

by MATTHEW KEMENY, Of The Patriot-News

A high-ranking state employee is accused of having a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit to drive in Pennsylvania when he slammed his state-owned Chevrolet Impala into a parked car last week in Lower Allen Twp., police said.

Allen J. Cwalina, 49, of the 1300 block of Sconsett Way, New Cumberland, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, failure to provide information in an accident and hit and run of an unattended vehicle.

Cwalina, the deputy secretary for administration for the state Department of Labor and Industry, has been removed of his driving privileges -- pending the outcome of the case -- but an agency spokesman wouldn't say whether he's been suspended or not.

"This is a personnel matter we take very seriously," spokesman Troy Thompson said.

Lower Allen police accuse Cwalina of crashing his Impala into a parked car Nov. 26 about 5:45 a.m. in the 1600 block of Lowell Lane in the Height at Beacon Hills housing development. They arrested him at his home shortly thereafter.

Cwalina was taken to Cumberland County Processing Center, where a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level at .199 percent, police said. The legal limit to drive in Pennsylvania is .08 percent.