President Obama’s uncle appears in Framingham District Court

FRAMINGHAM – The attorney for Onyango Obama, uncle of President Obama, is reviewing the driving records of the police officer who arrested him on drunken driving charges.

Mr. Obama, who is the half brother of the president’s deceased father was arrested for drunk driving charges in August last year for rolling through a stop sign and failing a field sobriety test. His attorney, P. Scott Bratton had asked for the driving records of the officer, Val Krishtal, and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office turned over the records which are public.

Obama and Bratton appeared in Framingham District Court Thursday and told the judge that he now has the driving history of the Framingham police officer who arrested Onyango Obama for drunk driving last year.

According to Chief Steven Carl, the police officer who pulled over and arrested President Obama’s uncle had been involved in 16 accidents and has been at fault in nine of those accidents in the past 15 years. However, that does not mean that Officer Krishtal’s stop and arrest of Obama was invalid.

Bratton is looking into his history to find out “if there is a pattern of conduct of behaviour on the part of the officer.”

Records also show that as late as July of this year, Officer Krishtal’s license was currently not renewable because of either unpaid taxes or citations.

Carl defended the officer and said that Krishtal has never lied about what happened in accidents, and would have no reason to be untruthful about what happened when he arrested Obama. He also said, “My opinion is that this doesn’t have an impact on this drunk driving case. I view it as a good attempt by a defense lawyer trying to defend his client. I think a judge hearing the motion will see through it. If not, I think a jury will see through it.”

Despite chief’s comments, Bratton has also filed paperwork seeking to suppress the chemical breath test and is challenging the legality of Obama’s arrest. A hearing on those issues is now set for March 1.