Williams handed off the case to the state because he "is friends with state Rep. Parker, and it would have been a conflict of interest if our office prosecuted the case," Williams' spokeswoman, Tasha Jamerson, told the Daily News in August.
Municipal Judge Charles Hayden's decision to suppress all evidence due to what he said were credibility concerns about the two arresting officers derailed Parker's nonjury trial, which had been scheduled for yesterday. Hayden based his ruling on testimony that Parker and officers Israel Miranda and Stephanie Allen gave during a Sept. 20 motion hearing.
The officers testified that Parker, in a state-registered car just after midnight April 30, drove the wrong way down one-way Haines Street, in Germantown.
After pulling over the Democrat who represents the 200th Legislative District in northwest Philly, the officers noticed that her eyes were glassy, that she smelled of alcohol, that her speech was slowed and that she was unsteady on her feet, they testified.
Miranda testified that Parker had told him that she had had two chocolate martinis and two beers. Parker angrily denied that in testimony, telling Hayden that she had only one martini after leaving a function at Club Champagne, on Chelten Avenue.
She also denied having driven the wrong way down Haines. She insisted that she had driven down Baynton Street instead.
Yesterday, Judge Hayden sided with Parker, granting the request of defense attorney Joseph Kelly to suppress all evidence.
"Police Officer Miranda was less than truthful in matters of importance in this case," Hayden said, noting that he doubted Miranda's statement that there were no other cars on the busy Germantown street at the time.
