AJ Allmendinger pleads no contest, gets community service for DWI
Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired stemming from a traffic stop in October.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger pleaded no contest in North Carolina District Court on Friday to a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired stemming from a traffic stop Oct. 29.
He was given a 60-day suspended sentence, 18 months unsupervised probation and 24 hours of community service, according to the Iredell County clerk’s office. He was granted limited driving privileges and also had to pay a $100 fine plus court costs.
Allmendinger was stopped at 1:12 a.m. for failing to stay in his lane on North Carolina Highway 150 in Mooresville, N.C., according to police records. The police report says he had a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 percent, which is the legal level for impairment in North Carolina.
A no-contest plea means that a person does not admit nor deny guilt but is not contesting the charge. It is treated, in terms of sentencing, most often as a guilty plea. According to the clerk’s office, Allmendinger was convicted of a level 5 DWI, which is the least severe of North Carolina DWI offenses.
A day after the arrest, Allmendinger took responsibility, saying that he had a few drinks.
“Obviously it was my fault,” Allmendinger said Oct. 30. “It was a bad decision. I wish I could take it back. I’d do anything to be able to take it back, but that’s life. You can’t. So all I can do is go out there and learn from it and be a lot better person from it, which I will be, and, hopefully, educate other people that you don’t have to have a ton of drinks to [be] drunk.”
RPM put Allmendinger on probation through 2010 and fined him $10,000, which will be donated to charity.
