Former US Republican John Sweenay was charged with driving while intoxicated on early Sunday morning when being stopped for a routine check by the State Police.

He was driving his car on the Northway – a stretch of Interstate 87 running which links Albany to Montreal. He was pulled over in Saratoga County at 1:20 a.m. According to State Police statements, Sweenay’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.18 with 0.10 units more than the legal limit admitted in New York.

Lawyer E. Stewart Jones confirmed the arrest. He did not have many things to comment, except: "He is a private citizen. This is a private matter," the New York Post reported.

Sweenay was released and scheduled to appear in Clifon Park Town Court on November 14, at 7 p.m.

The congressional representative is not at his first incident involving alcohol consume. During his campaign, some photos picturing him at a party with college kids at Union College appeared in the newspapers at that time.

He also smashed his car in the Adirondacks the previous year and told the police he was not able to see, because the light of the sun, according to the New York Daily News, diminished his sight.

Republican Sweenay lost his chair last year in favor of Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.