East Windsor Deputy Mayor’s Court Date Postponed

The date has been moved for East Windsor Deputy Mayor Walter T. Daniels to appear in to face charges of driving while intoxicated and related violations.

The court date has been pushed back from today, Wednesday, to 1:30 p.m. April 6.

Court officials said Daniels has retained the services of attorney Mark Shane of Edison-based Shane and White, LLC, who could not be reached for comment by the time of this posting. Daniels, 67 years old and a 15-year veteran of the all-Democrat Township Council, has declined to comment on the charges against him.

On March 1, Hightstown police with DWI, refusal to submit to breath samples, DWI within a school zone, reckless driving, careless driving and failure to maintain lane. 

Mayor Janice Mironov said this week Daniels’ role will be limited while he is facing the charges.

“Walt is a friend and has given over 20 years of dedicated service in many capacities to the community,” she said. “Nevertheless, for any person, drinking and driving represents a serious judgment lapse and certainly for a public official is a serious matter.

“Under the circumstances he will not be performing any deputy mayor functions should the need even arise, nor will he be involved in anything that touches on this subject area.”

Mironov said that, while she does not anticipate it, should the subject of the Hightstown Police Department come up for council, “it would not be appropriate for [Daniels] to participate.” That police force was a frequent topic of discussion in 2010, before negotiations failed to find a mutually agreeable way combine the East Windsor and Hightstown departments.

“We’ll see what the facts and circumstances show,” the mayor said.

On the evening of March 1, a concerned citizen alerted them to a potentially intoxicated driver on Davidson Road, and that they arrived to find Daniels speeding and nearly drifting off the road. Police said they arrested Daniels after he failed field sobriety tests, and that at police headquarters he refused to give breath samples.