Bay News 9 reporter Jason Lanning arrested for driving under the influence

It's police blotter day in local media: Bay News 9 reporter Jason Lanning is expected to return to work Friday after his arrest Wednesday night on charges of driving under the influence.

See his entry on our Mug Shots site here.

Lanning, 30, was arrested on S Dale Mabry Highway at W Obispo Street at 11:58 p.m. Wednesday after an accident in which he struck the rear of a truck and hit several road signs, Tampa police said.

Police said he was driving north on Dale Mabry when he crashed into the rear of a truck; his vehicle then left the road and traveled several blocks north, striking several stop signs and other road signs, according to police.

Police said Lanning attempted to drive away after the accident, but his car was blocked by the other vehicle. He had an odor of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot/glassy eyes; field sobriety tests revealed additional signs of impairment, so he was arrested, the police report said.

Breathalyzer tests revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.047 and 0.044, about half the level where someone is presumed impaired, 0.08. But such tests would not reveal any other type of intoxication and Lanning did not provide a urine sample, according to the police report. He was released on $500 bail.

Officials at Bay News 9, which is a media partner of the Times, declined to comment on Lanning’s arrest, calling it an “internal personnel matter.” Lanning has worked as a reporter at the St. Petersburg-based cable news channel since 2003.

Comments

[bigbucsfan]

What happened to this guy? I had a little legal trouble last year and he was screaming my name all over the news but when he gets arrested it gets buried.
Where is his case in the legal system?
Let me guess--the state attorney dropped the charges because he's one of their buddies.
Please prove me wrong.

[bulletinizer]

He blows a .044 & .047 and still goes to jail. Wow, this guy can't hold his booze. Hurry back Jason Lanning, you're no Nancy Alexander, Reginald Roundtree or Russell Rhodes. But they didn't hit anything except the pavement.

[Shannon]

what is up with them? they are supposed to report the news not become it.
and why don't they report this? do they think we are stupid?
did they do a drug test on him?

[dreaming]

sigh....why are those employed by tv and newspapers routinely written up by the local tampa bay area newspapers for their dui's but not employees in other types of industries?

if a waiter at ihop gets snared for dui, why don't we read that, for example? not that i want to, obviously.

newspapers in other parts of the country don't make a fetish of this the way the times and trib do. it's not a newspaper industry standard, by any means, but does seem to fascinate the bay area papers. but just the papers.

the tv stations do not report these, for the most part.

i'm sure you'll say that it's to avoid a double standard of papers not putting a spotlight on their own foibles --- except the local papers aggressively avoid the spotlight on many of their foibles, just not their drunken-driving employees.