An elected official in Black Mountain, North Carolina was forced to resign after being arrested for driving with blood alcohol level at nearly four times the legal limit.
Democrat Tim Rayburn, both Vice Mayor and Alderman of Black Mountain, was driving a fire department SUV at the time of the arrest. He registered a blood alcohol level of 0.30 when tested by authorities.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports:
Black Mountain Vice Mayor and Alderman Tim Rayburn has resigned after police say he was drunk and driving a public vehicle at nearly four times the legal blood-alcohol limit. […]
An officer with the N.C. Highway Patrol arrested Rayburn August 28 at the Candler fire station after a motorist called before noon to report the fire department’s SUV being driven erratically on Interstate 40. The motorist followed the SUV to the fire station. When tested, Rayburn’s blood alcohol level registered 0.30, or nearly four times the legal limit of 0.08, Highway Patrol First Sgt. Brian Gilreath said.
Rayburn denies that his resignation has anything to do with the arrest.
"It is with great sadness that I resign from my position as alderman for the Town of Black Mountain due to medical and personal reasons," Rayburn wrote in his resignation letter.
Rayburn also said that he will be keeping his name on the ballot for his re-election this coming November despite his resignation.
He was suspended with pay from his position as chief of the Enka Candler Fire and Rescue Department.