Pirates President Frank Coonelly Charged With DUI

Posted by on February 23, 2012 | 5 Comments

According to Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Pirates president Frank Coonelly was charged with a DUI on December 22nd. Coonelly had a blood-alcohol content of .16, which is higher than the Pennsylvania legal limit of .08.

Pennsylvania has a tiered system for DUI charges. A blood-alcohol content of .16 or higher is the fourth of four tiers. A first time offense in that range draws a fine between $1000-$5000, 3 days to six months in prison, and a 12 month driver’s license suspension. The court can allow a restricted license after 60 days of the original suspension.

Coonelly was also charged with driving the wrong way, and careless driving. Per the article in the Trib, he will have a hearing on March 20th. Check the link above for quotes from Coonelly and Pirates’ owner Bob Nutting.

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Tim is the owner and editor in chief of Pirates Prospects. He started the site in January 2009, and turned it into his full time job during the 2011 season. Prior to starting Pirates Prospects, Tim worked with AccuScore.com, providing MLB, NHL, and NFL coverage to various national media outlets, including ESPN Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, and the Wall Street Journal. He also writes the annual Prospect Guide, which is sold through the site. Tim moved to Bradenton in 2013, and will be providing live coverage all year of the Bradenton Marauders, GCL Pirates, instructs, mini camp, Spring Training, and lunches at Mixon's Fruit Farms.
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5 Responses

  1. Jay Yovanovich
    February 23, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    He deserves to fired IMO

  2. salempirate
    February 23, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Firing won’t happen. Nutting has issued his statement and didn’t condemn him. Happened 2 months ago and wasn’t mentioned. But if he made a damning internet tweet, like Sanchez, would all hell break loose? He was pretty well looped, put himself and others in potential danger and had a suspended license? WOW.

  3. Alicia Rothermund
    February 24, 2012 at 12:51 am

    hah!

    SalemPirate,

    Did he have a suspended license at the time of this DUI? I think his license was just revoked in reaction to this incident.  Or at least that’s all the article stated.

    The guy definitely messed up, and this was a completely irresponsible move.  I’m not calling for his firing, or otherwise, but if this is the first time something like this has happened, I would lean towards giving him a second chance. 

    I’m sure the board and NH know a lot more than we do.  So if he’s a closet lush, in that case, this is the perfect opportunity to purge him from the organization.

  4. Scott Klima
    February 24, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    Fire him.  A DUI is one of the worst offenses in my book, especially with how drunk he was. He deserves more than a firing, he deserves to be in jail for years in my opinion.  I hate that DUIs don’t get greater punishments in this country.