Albany County Family Court Judge Gerard Maney is accused of using bad judgement.
Green Island Police say the 59-year-old judge was drinking and driving on Thursday night.
At about 8:30 p.m., police say Maney's car approached an Albany County Stop DWI Checkpoint on the Green Island Bridge.
"He did a U-turn on the bridge to avoid the checkpoint," says Green Island Police Chief Chris Parker.
Police say Maney didn't pull over until he got to Route 32 in Watervliet.
"Nobody was in danger but he did fail to comply with the lights and sirens for approximately a mile and a half," says Chief Parker. "He never stopped until Route 32."
Paul Tommasini tells us he saw the arrest from his house.
"Another two cars came and they were looking around and discussing what they were going to do to him," Tommasini tells us.
Police say officers smelled alcohol and Maney failed field sobriety tests.
Investigators say Maney had a blood-alcohol content of 0.07 - just shy of the 0.08 BAC that constitutes being legally drunk.
Maney is charged with DWAI - driving while ability impaired by alcohol.
The judge is also charged with making an illegal U-turn and failing to comply with a traffic stop.
According to the New York State Unified Court System web site, Maney has spent 18 years as a family court judge.
He recently served as a member of the City of Albany's Gun Violence Task Force.
He was back on the bench on Friday.
A court spokeswoman says there will be no changes to Judge Maney's judicial duties while the matter is pending.
Albany County Stop DWI Sergeant Lenny Crouch calls the allegations against Judge Maney sad, adding, "You see things like this and you say, 'Boy, you never saw that coming.'"
Neither Judge Maney nor his attorney had any comment on Friday.
Maney is due in Green Island Town Court on July 7th.
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