The lockdown-defying New Jersey gym owner who’s now working for Congress has been busted for alleged drunk driving — 15 years after he killed a teen in a drunken crash.
Ian Smith, who famously risked jail and monetary break to maintain his Atilis Gym in Bellmawr open all through the pandemic, was arrested within the early hours of Sunday, he confirmed on Instagram Wednesday.
But Smith and his marketing campaign workforce denied that he was driving drunk — and demand he solely refused to adjust to the cop’s requests as a result of he feared a set-up.
“I was pulled over, passed a sobriety test (in poor conditions), and was arrested,” Smith insisted in his put up.
“My choice to not submit to a breathalyzer reflects my distrust after 2 years of persecution,” insisted Smith, who has confronted mammoth each day fines and mounting authorized prices into the thousands and thousands for holding his gym open.
He was charged by Cinnaminson police with driving beneath the affect, refusing to take a breath check in addition to reckless and careless driving, NJ.com confirmed. He was launched with a court docket date set for April 14.
His marketing campaign spokesman, Steve Kush, told the New Jersey Globe that the congressional candidate “doesn’t have much trust of the government after the persecution he’s received” from Gov. Phil Murphy.
He additionally known as on Cinnaminson police to launch video of the cease, insisting it might present Smith handed the sector sobriety assessments, and that the gym owner’s truck would solely have swerved as a result of of excessive winds.
“Ian Smith was not driving drunk. Ian Smith is innocent,” Kush mentioned within the assertion. “Ian will have his day in court and will be vindicated.”
Cinnaminson Police Chief Richard Calabrese instructed NJ.com on Tuesday he had not seen the footage of the cease and couldn’t touch upon Smith’s claims.
Smith is difficult two-term Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, a former Obama White House staffer.
Even earlier than his marketing campaign, he has overtly mentioned his 2007 drunk driving crash that killed 19-year-old pupil Kevin Ade, which he mentioned has generated “justifiably a great deal of hated and resentment towards me.”
“It’s something I accept full responsibility for,” he mentioned in a video confessional in May 2020 of the crash when he was a 20-year-old pupil.
“My actions caused the death of a young man and broke the hearts of an entire community … There’s nothing that I can do other than try to live a good life and give back,” he mentioned within the video.
