NorCo Solicitor Melissa Rudas has been charged with driving under the influence after a July 8 traffic stop in Bethlehem in which her blood alcohol was 0.08. That is the lowest level BAC under which a person can be presumed to be under the influence.
Rudas explained that she was on her way home after attending a high school graduation party for one of her daughter's friends. She was crossing Minsi Trail bridge from south side Bethlehem, but saw flashing lights up ahead. She made what may have been an illegal U-turn to avoid the area, and was pulled over by an officer. What had been ahead of her was a checkpoint, not an accident.
Rudas accepted complete responsibility. She apologized to her family, friends, clients and Executive Lamont McClure after last night's Council meeting. "I own this," she acknowledged. She said the officer who charged her was very professional.
She caused no accidents, nor was she speeding.
Executive Lamont McClure said he was “disappointed” by the charges, but added she is taking responsibility for her mistake. “She’s done a tremendous job as Solicitor and I won’t deprive the people of her expertise,” he said.
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Personal observation: You can take this for what it's worth, but I've known Missy for over 30 years. Before she was a lawyer, I used to search real estate titles with her at the courthouse. After becoming a lawyer, she could easily have turned her nose up at me, but she remained friendly with me over the years. If she told me something, I could take it to the bank.
In the time I have known her, and at various functions, the only time I have ever seen her drink is during parties at her own home. I'm sure she did drink outside her home, but very little.
I am an alcoholic who was born with a 0.08 BAC. I am fortunate to have stopped drinking in 1985. Before that happened, I once passed out and rammed a few parked cars. I had to be taken to the hospital. The officer who helped me knew I had been drinking, but said nothing. On another occasion, I was with a fellow lawyer and we were both so drunk that I got lost driving. I had no idea where we were, which turned out to be the middle of a very foggy cornfield. A state trooper escorted us to our hotel and confiscated our keys. He was pretty pissed at us, but let us off the hook.
That last story might sound funny, but it would not be so funny if I had struck and killed a child. My behavior was completely reckless. I would much rather be charged with a 0.08 BAC than to hurt another person.
I would recommend to anyone, that if you want to go out and drink, have a good time. But have no more than one drink if you are driving. It is very easy to get to 0.08.
And Missy, I admire and respect you even more than I did before for taking the hit instead of playing games.
(Updated at 9:44pm)
78 comments:
What was the reasonable suspicion for the stop?
She apparently made an illegal turn to avoid a checkpoint on Stefko Blvd.
.08 is low,law should be .10.
Tough break. Fact is, women BAL will read high due to hormones and body mass. She could have just had a couple of drinks.
Three glasses of wine can do it.
She looks tanked in a backyard pic if you google her name then click on images and there's one standing next to and has her arm around Bob Donchez...
I took that pic and she was completely sober.
Must be an amateur drinker, as every hard core drunk in Bethlehem (like my former self prior to giving it up) knows that you stay away from Stefko, 3rd Street, Union Blvd/Club Ave, Schoenersville & Airport Rds after 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night...that's where the checkpoints usually are. My understanding is that at the checkpoints, they usually have a spotter before the entrance looking for people making illegal traffic maneuvers to avoid it. It's not illegal to avoid a checkpoint. Turning down a side street is OK, making an illegal u-turn certainly isn't. Though I suppose even if your turn is legal, the cop may follow you looking for a broken taillight, invalid plate, etc. in order to have legit reason to stop you when they know you really avoided the checkpoint because you were loaded.
In today's era of expensive DUI penalties and Uber, there really is no excuse for even driving buzzed around here anymore. It's not like 15 years ago when you would call a cab and hope it even showed up at all within 2 hours of your call.
The cops in the 80's would pull you over and realize you were drinking and let you go after they take your case of beer.Hellertown Cops are out of control,I'm on edge driving through their town on a Sunday Morning doing the speed limit.
I have spoken to Missy. She was at a graduation party for one of her daughter’s friends and was helping clean up afterwards. She is owning this and feels that she let Lamont, her daughter and her clients down. I know shoe does not drink at all during the week, and she made a mistake. There was no accident. No one was hurt. I am amazed she was charged, but she will accept the consequences.
I hope she gets a slap on the wrist,sounds like an honest mistake.The cop may have been doing his job or could have been a prick.
The officer was doing his job. Missy said he was Very professional
Fair Enough,hang in there Missy !
Must be a mistake, her last name doesn't start with a "B". Oh wait, she's a lawyer not a politician, my bad!
Wow. Look at you defending inappropriate behavior and making excuses for of public official who BROKE THE LAW. It’s amazing how you like to spin things. I can think of several people had this happened you would have completely tried to destroy them. Maybe it’s because one drink just feels obligated to defend another. Interesting.
A lapse in good judgement, she wasn't tanked and it's a first that can be dealt with ARD...I however do have an issue with a major conflict of interest here. She is VERY well known and liked at the courthouse among everyone including those who will determine her disposition on her case and her supervision..it should be transferred out of this county just to keep it fair in the eyes of the public.
Well, well, well, look at the alcoholic playing down the fact that an officer of the Mc Clown administration got a DUI. Take it easy on her O’Hare, hell, go split a bottle of JD together!
Was her registration expired? Because then it would be a huge deal. You could then attack her for the way she dresses.
Or was it her license that was expired?
Big difference between someone who honestly admits to a mistake and someone who argues with the cops.
I don’t find this article to be anywhere near as disgusting as her courtroom antics. This is KARMA biting her in the rear. You don’t go through your career carrying yourself like a primadonna, representing clients, by playing dirty. Oh she has built a name for herself alright. I know a hundred attorneys who present themselves in a much more professional manner both inside and outside the courtroom.
Of course she is “owning” this... She wants to keep her job, limited press, less embarrassment. I say Good for You Rudas. You made my week!
Sounds like someone she beat in court.
B.O I just butt chugged a pint of Maneschewitz and am going to fap while listening to the MM BOH Lehigh valley discourse
I admit I would drink and drive . I stopped about 20 years ago when I kept seeing those little blue signs, "DUI you can't afford it". A friend of mine lost their job and about $8000 back then, when they got caught. Now they have, "you just blew $10,000" signs. I have heard it can go as high as $15000. When you factor in the high risk insurance costs. So now I stay at home if I have anything. When I go out I don't drink AT ALL. Something I want to say is I recognize that it took those monetary threats for me to stop drinking and driving. I often wondered what kind of rotten person I am to have not stopped because of the chance I would have hurt someone. Thanks for providing me the opportunity to say that.
Your statement proves to me that you did stop bc what really bothered you was the possibility you could hurt someone. Don't be so hard on yourself.
In this day and age it is =sad an officer of the court would do this. I am somewhat surprised by all the excuses being made. Our state senator has the same problem and has skated for years.
My brother went through a custody battle with his wife, Miss Rudas was his wife's attorney. My brother had a low grade dui as well throughout the battle. She didn't hesitate to label him in court UNFIT because of his dui. It's ironic that no one is burning her at the stake, no one is labeling her an unfit mother, yet she appears to be praised by most on here.. kudos to her she isn't fighting it, that doesn't make it right. I agree with the comment above. Karma... only it's more acceptable if your a somebody instead of a nobody..
It was .08 so just relax. Most people wouldn't even be impaired at that. I'm more of a danger driving when I have headache.
The real issue is these dumb ass checkpoints. The cops shouldn't be able to pull you over if you haven't committed any infractions.
@7:17 your statement is idiotic.... tell that to a family that lost someone due to a drunk driver.... .08 is unacceptable. Maybe next time u think before u comment.
11:38pm "I admit I would drink and drive . I stopped about 20 years ago when I kept seeing those little blue signs, "DUI you can't afford it"....I often wondered what kind of rotten person I am to have not stopped because of the chance I would have hurt someone. Thanks for providing me the opportunity to say that."
Ditto
If she was part of the Brown crew, Bernie would be calling for her execution. He only defends Democrat drunks. Meanwhile, Lamont looks the other way. She's eventually going to kill someone and Lamont will have blood on his hands. Public officials should be held to a higher standard. Now, I have to teach my kids not to be irresponsible and dangerous, like McClure's team. It's a teaching moment that Lamont missed.
She accepted responsiibility which speaks volumes to me thats all i need to know ....i guess you can''t even have one drink anymore and not be considered drunk . i respect her honesty
Respect her honesty? What else was she going to do? She knew it was only a matter of time before it would have been in the paper. I do agree with another commenter that if this was someone from Brown's administration Bernie would be the first in line calling for Brown to terminate the person and that public officials are to be held to higher standards.
When I am without sin I will cast the first stone.
Em, Bernie... in reading between the lines of the article in the newspaper, I have a whole other take on this. I believe she turned around to avoid the DUI check point, and she allegedly made some traffic infractions in addition (running a stop sign, I believe). As a commentator on LVL wrote "she chose plausible explanations"... but he doesn't believe the story rings true. Neither do I. Yes, she is taking responsibility now - she has no choice.
She claims she had a half glass of wine. I call BS on that. More like a couple of glasses to get to .08.
Someone who's very familiar with the law and certainly has the resources to call Uber has no excuse here. I drink. I do not wish to drink responsibly; therefore, I drink at home or wear out my Uber app. It's 2018. This is not difficult to understand. She should resign.
She's going to be extremely humbled when she's sitting in ARD classes and at Dr. Helm's in the large group of people getting counseling...unless she's given some sort of "special" treatment.
19:55, you must have challenged reading skills. She said she had 1 1/2 glasses, which is enough to put her over the top.
10:55, not 19:55
Respect her honesty..yea..she got caught this time what about all the other times..I have been at some parties she has attended and Bernie You are so full of shit,,,she loves her booze right along side her hubby..who just happens to be one of the city of bethlehems go to plumber...she is no different than her dad Robert..who played around until he got caught oh yea he owned up to it too....once you get caught what choice do u have......
Obviously, you don't know her at all. I believe you are outright lying about attending parties with her bc she drinks very little. This has nothing to do with her husband or her father. You sound like a very jealous person. I'm sorry you are so unhappy.
"In this day and age it is =sad an officer of the court would do this"
Yoi apparently know very few "officers of he court."
"If she was part of the Brown crew, Bernie would be calling for her execution. He only defends Democrat drunks."
Actually, something like this happened to someone very high up in the Brown admin. This person was pulled over,and the officer thought there was reason to to a BAC. It came back at 0.07 BAC. I did not write about it but one of the local dailies did.
12:57 you're full of shit. Maybe her husband is a go-to plumber because he is excellent at his job and has his place of business in bethlehem. Takes a lot of courage to anonymously post some pretty spiteful, falsehoods about someone. What a coward.
12:59 SO IN OTHER WORDS U ARE JUST AS COWARDLY MR ANON 1:59 oh by the way the truth hurts don;t it!!
Should be FIRED. No excuses when you should lead be example and obey the laws in which you are hired to uphold. Resign!
2:10pm: It's "doesn't it", not "don't it". Grammar goes a long way, stupid. BTW, I agree with your 2:12pm post, but you are still illiterate.
So she had other people in the vehicle with her? That she was responsible for?
Another Bethlehem drunk.... Yea McClure deprives us of a drunk services for the taxpayers money so embarrassed to say the least. Of course this blog defends her. Maybe she can have Biscola give her pointers from few drinks to another
What county was she in? That will in itself tell you what Justice by the DA will be done.
Apparently she is close friends with the Bethlehem Chief of Police. This will go nowhere. I am sure the officer was disciplined.
It is laughable to read bernie’s Defense of her. Melissa is a drinker. She and the chief’s wife are regulars at the Apollo and Edge. She likes her liquid lunches and post work drinks. It was only a matter of time. Your loyalty to your friend Bob is blinding you on this one.
"What county was she in? That will in itself tell you what Justice by the DA will be done."
What planet are you on? I wrote she was stopped by the Minsi Trail bridge. That's NorCo.
"Apparently she is close friends with the Bethlehem Chief of Police. This will go nowhere. I am sure the officer was disciplined."
She is close friends with the Chief,and her law partner is his wife. She was at the minimum level. She was charged anyway. I am sure Chief DiLuzio was fully aware of the circumstances and could easily have intervened if he wanted to play favorites. He did not. The law was enforced by an officer who was doing his job.
"She and the chief’s wife are regulars at the Apollo and Edge. She likes her liquid lunches and post work drinks."
Do you think Apollo and Edge are just watering holes? Both of them are fine restaurants. Her office is a stone's throw away and it is completely understandable she would go there for lunch or to meet other attorneys. I will repeat what I said earlier - she is a very light drinker. She usually does not drink at all during the week. I have known her 30 years and have never once seen her under the influence. I have seen her at numerous basketball games as her daughter was growing up. I have also seen her at numerous political events. I will say that Missy is a bit thin, and I think 1 1/2 glasses of wine could have knocked her over the limit.
I am an alkie and am pretty good at spotting people who drink. I have a very big nose, and I don't know of this is why, but have an acute sense of smell. My nose is better than most breathalyzers, and I can immediately tell if someone is drinking. I never have had reason to be concerned about Missy. If I did, I would try to help her. But i don't consider her an alkie.
Most of the comments taking shots at her come from hypocrites engaging in a bit of shadenfreude or are political enemies of Lamont Mcclure, trying to latch on whatever they can to blast him. Missy and Lamont are both very tough and can take these anonymous slurs. But I know I will have no reason to ever write about a second time.
All of what you say is true. I can smell vodka from 60 feet and tell you the brand. Yet, her explanation and the circumstances are rather typical of someone who's more practiced than you say. I'm not sure what to believe. Your defense is strong. Her behavior and explanation are suspicious.
Defending an impared driver is poor judgement on your part. Plain and simple, it's criminal behavior.
No dog in the hunt for me, as a potential juror my personal feelings of check-points not related to commerce inspection are suspect. I also feel that being required to provide evidence against yourself is suspect. And from what I understand the illegal turn provided the reason for the stop and that alcohol impairment was not the cause, as much as the road being blocked. And the last of my considerations would be the boarded line .08 along with the lack of a victim, I would nullify.
10:00am
Criminal behavior always has a victim. No victim, no crime. Not following the rules of the road while freely traveling and not engaged in commerce is a moving violation and hardly criminal behavior as far as I'm concerned.
The lawyer friends posting these comments are obviously providing legalese cover. It should not matter that she is friends with the Chief of Police or the County Solicitor. She was driving drunk, she made an illegal U-turn to avoid the police, she got caught. Fortunately juries are made up of regular folks and not fellow insiders. Lost a friend to a drunk driver and not very sympathetic. The idea there was "no victim" is bullshot. She was lucky there was no victim and her actions were that of someone with callous disregard for potential victims. Stop making excuses for bad behavior.
A real jury would laugh at your defense.
"bad behavior" to be sure! Criminal behavior, I think not.
She WAS lucky, agreed, based on the .08 and had there been no road block, I suspect she'd of hit the jackpot.
Sorry about your friend, the circumstances and outcome around that incident were clearly different. You are obviously upset, but you are confirming what you calling out as bullshot. Why else would you think her lucky?
"The idea there was "no victim" is bullshot. She was lucky there was no victim"
"The lawyer friends posting these comments are obviously providing legalese cover."
I don't think these comments are from lawyers, but people who do not like check points. I don't much like them myself. But Missy is not fighting this, she is accepting responsibility. She is close friends with Bethlehem's COP and her law partner is his wife, but she is accepting responsibility and is not being treated any differently than any other person stopped as a result of a checkpoint.
Those trying to vilify her are from two camps: a) those who love to kick people when hey are down; and b) political hacks trying to hurt Lamont.
Ms.Rudas is a wonderful person . If I was her Atty. I’d challenge the breath test device . .08 ha ! Edge of of the low end of meter . Would mouth wash hit .08 too. .? Remember , years ago the machines were like big copy machines and you had to wait a minimum os of minutes to get it to “warm up” . We in 1974 out U.S.Marine group BLT2/8 2Nd MarDiv . From deployment.So, me and my pal BobHite go to MB , South Carolina- not what it is today . So - we get pulled over for ‘out of state tages and all’ and my Marine pal is taken in for breathalyzer test .and I’m in the police station and inform the officer “ If want want that charge to stick you have to to it leagal and proper . He responds: “ You some some kind of lawyer boy? “ I say no , but I was in the scouts at the state police barrices in Pa. and they required a warm up of the the machine for 12 minutes before the defendant blow into that straw, see there is maybe some issue here . Ms Rudas is and had been know to me ,even if she never heard of me ,- as a person of tremendous integrity. So I would say there is a question here to look at. Anyway my buddy from the Marne Corps was dry as a bone.
Bernie the boot licker....keep licking those boots. Your not even a legitimate blogger...your a bullshitter. This is just the beginning of her legal issues. Rudas was sued, lost and paid $100,000 in March of 2018 to the spouse of her client ( a convicted drug trafficker ). Southern district of Florida case number 15-30668-JKO check it out bootlicker.
I wonder how many frantic phone calls she made to all her politically connected cronies before she "accepted responsibility ".
Those who live in glass houses. Good grief!
9:22, I am well aware of that litigatio, and knew about it before her confirmation. Things like that are handled by insurance companies and are no reflection on her. You political hacks should have insisted that the three Rs on Council question Missy, but it would have blown up in their faces. So you are reduced to anonymous attacks here. Missy will do her ARD and be fine. you will still be an asshole.
Since when can a DUI be voided by an ARD? I thought DUI’s were not eligible?
"Prick cop could have let her go, especially knowing all involved."
Easy there fella...for all you know this officer could be a dedicated public servant and all around good guy....she blew a .08 ...I presume that was in the field ... and she is willing to accept responsibility for that and move forward.
Key chain BAC detectors should be on every drinkers wish list.
Solution is easy. Just don't drink. Why is there such a big fascination with drinking. Bring back prohibition.
"Since when can a DUI be voided by an ARD? I thought DUI’s were not eligible?"
You thought wrong. It is big business throughout the state. ARD should be an option for a first offense DUI.
I deleted two comments, one of them that professes to have knowledge about the florida case. I must insist that person identify himself or herself.
It seems what happened here was O’Hare had to reluctantly write about this because real news sources were. He tried to cushion the blow because that’s the Dems MO. The criminal is always a good person who helped the elderly and went to church on Sundays what he didn’t count on was people that knew facts. The Florida case is very interesting and though he deleted the comment we all still saw it. I guess we as taxpayers need to go to council meetings and find out why people who are in charge of upholding the laws are the ones breaking the laws.
Well this is [par for the course. You are providing some great detail but it is off script. BO does not like things to stray away from his packaged narrative. This great women is a victim but more impotently she is an O'Hare mancrush and that is that. Censorship is now in effect.
"It seems what happened here was O’Hare had to reluctantly write about this because real news sources were."
Actually, I broke this story. I had it up almost a full 24 hours before the ET. So far as I know, the MC has not yet published a story.
" The Florida case is very interesting."
Actually, it is off topic. It involves someone who filed for bankruptcy,and actions taken against her while the stay was in effect. I read the case on Pacer and deleted comments because they I believe they are dishonest. I notice that NC's former solicitor was also sued for the same thing. I am willing to host these OT comments, but I insist you identify yourself. Your refusal to do so tells my readers all they need to know.
Wow Bernie...your nose seems to have multiple uses. Problem is..
the thing is constantly up someone's ass.
I have deleted several comments from the anonymous coward who is misrepresenting facts without identifying herself. Do that and I will host your comments. Your refusal tells us what we need to know.
I will answer none of your questions until you ID YOURSELF.
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