A morning news anchor for the local ABC news station was recently charged with drunken driving.
WSYX morning traffic anchor Katie McKee was charged by the Ohio Highway Patrol on August 16 after troopers say they received a 9-1-1 call in Union County reporting a Jeep all over the roadway. The arrest was first reported by T.V. news insider magazine FTVlive.com.
Troopers said they were able to get behind the Jeep and witness the driver crossing marked lanes on numerous occasions, as well as driving through the middle of the road.
When the SUV was stopped, the driver turned out to be the morning news anchor. Troopers asked her if she had been drinking, and dashcam video shows that McKee told them she had one glass of wine. The trooper said that the driver’s speech was slurred and that he felt she had more than just a single glass.
McKee plead with the trooper to follow her home, saying she was just a couple miles from her house. The ABC anchor was given a field sobriety test, stumbling a few times, blaming the Trooper at one point for distracting her.
After — what the trooper called — a failure of the field sobriety test, McKee was told she was being arrested.
“….I’m a good human….” she plead with the Trooper, as she was being placed in handcuffs. “You’ve been drinking and you’re driving; you could have killed somebody,” the Trooper replied.
McKee hired Marysville-based criminal defense attorney Michael J. Streng and plead not guilty. Streng did not immediately respond to requests for a comment on behalf of his client.
McKee is back at work, according to FTVlive.com, and her case is wading through the justice system with her attorney filing numerous motions to get evidence thrown out from the trial.
Please follow up on this story.Something tells me money and power will make this case get lost somewhere in the paperwork and never prosecuted
Oh, please! She is a traffic reporter on the morning show and fill in anchor. I don’t think she has the “money and power” to beat the rap. So her attorney is filing motions. He is her defense attorney, he is defending her. If I were in a similar situation, I would do whatever I could to beat it. And you would too.
When life hands you a hand full of Lemons, then a wise person makes lemonade.
It looks like this negative situation could be turned into a very positive situation for everybody directly concerned as well as an opportunity to educate the public. What a wonderful opportunity for a reporter to educate the populace about the Criminal Justice system and the fairness, or perhaps the unfairness of it all. I am sure she doesn’t quite see it that way just yet, as this must be very embarrassing and awkward situation for her, and she feels that her career and reputation are at stake and on the line. However, this is a wonderful opportunity to do a “human interest” story that could meet the need of educating the public about this issue.
I bet that was not reported on the morning news
No it wasn’t I was wondering why she wasn’t there I thought she was on vacation
I hope everything turns out okay with her. She has an opportunity here to make this for the good since she is in the public’s eye. How many times do we do this. maybe have a beer or two or a glass of wine or two. Our body’s respond differently and apparently she did have more than one glass of wine. Did anyone at dinner or where ever she was offer her a ride? Did they know she was stumbling? Maybe this is a wake up call. I always tell my kids, if you are going to drink turn your keys over to someone first. I hate the fact that her face is being posted all over the media because she is known. Let her deal with this in her own privacy, just like you and I would.