LOCKPORT – A man who, according to his attorney, went out and got drunk after being told he might have pancreatic cancer, was placed on five years’ probation Wednesday and ordered to serve 30 days in the Niagara County work program.
“You’re one little toe, one step, out of jail,” State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. told David R. Petrea, 39, of Wright Avenue, North Tonawanda, who had pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated.
Petrea picked up his third DWI in the past 10 years on April 12 after his car struck a mailbox on Sweeney Street in North Tonawanda and left the scene. Police measured Petrea’s blood alcohol content at 0.32 percent, four times the legal threshold for intoxication.
Defense attorney Paul Mathias said Petrea had just been told he had spots on his pancreas that might be cancerous. He said Petrea also has diabetes, coughs up blood and is allergic to wheat products.
“You’re one little toe, one step, out of jail,” State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. told David R. Petrea, 39, of Wright Avenue, North Tonawanda, who had pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated.
Petrea picked up his third DWI in the past 10 years on April 12 after his car struck a mailbox on Sweeney Street in North Tonawanda and left the scene. Police measured Petrea’s blood alcohol content at 0.32 percent, four times the legal threshold for intoxication.
Defense attorney Paul Mathias said Petrea had just been told he had spots on his pancreas that might be cancerous. He said Petrea also has diabetes, coughs up blood and is allergic to wheat products.