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Bronx Prosecutors Can't Stop Getting Arrested for DWIs

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on January 11, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

What's up in the Bronx? For the second time in two years, another Bronx prosecutor's drunken driving arrest is making headlines around New York.

In the latest incident, New York City police stopped assistant prosecutor Rafael Urena at a checkpoint in Manhattan about 3:40 a.m. Saturday, the New York Post reports.

When officers explained to Urena they wanted to use a Breathalyzer, the 26-year-old attorney allegedly retorted, "Yeah, I know what it is. I'm a Bronx assistant district attorney," sources told the Post.

Rafael Urena's breath test revealed a blood-alcohol level of .081 -- just above the legal limit in New York.

Urena has worked for the Bronx prosecutor's office since October, after he graduated from American University's Washington College of Law, the website Gothamist reports. A spokesperson told Gothamist the DA's office was "still gathering the facts" about Urena's case.

Other sources told the Post that Urena had a prior arrest for driving with a suspended license in 2010, and a sealed case for marijuana possession in 2003.

Since Urena is an attorney, he probably doesn't need us to remind him of the defenses he may be able to use to fight his DWI charge -- for example, that someone spiked his drink, or forced him to drive drunk.

Rafael Urena may also learn some lessons from another Bronx prosecutor's drunken-driving case. In 2010, Bronx ADA Jennifer Troiano was arrested for DWI in a three-car crash on a New York City freeway, the New York Daily News reports.

Troiano admitted to drinking and her license was suspended. But a judge reinstated her license in 2011 because police at the scene had waited too long -- more than the two hours allowed by law -- before asking her to take a Breathalyzer test, according to the Daily News.

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