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Tom Coyne's lost weekend
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne, already on probation for drunken driving, was arrested early Monday morning, when he was found nearly naked and passed out in a North Olmsted driveway. Here is what reportedly happened that day:
SUNDAY
Coyne spends most of the day in Cleveland, knocking out walls and doing other rehab work on his condominium, near the West Side Market.
In the afternoon, he returns to his Brook Park home on Woodhill Drive, which he plans to rent to Continental Airlines as a base for flight attendants. He checks his mail and finds a notice reinstating his driving privileges, which he lost in March because of drunken driving.
Coyne's friends believe he misinterprets the notice and believes that his drinking privileges also have been restored. He was prohibited from drinking as part of his probation in the drunken driving case.
Sometime after 8:30 p.m., Coyne and his girlfriend, Kristie Zehe, eat at Nuevo Acapulco, a Mexican eatery on Lorain Road. Zehe and Coyne argue during the meal about plans for Coyne's birthday party in September. Coyne has six to eight margaritas and, possibly, several shots of liquor during the meal.
11 p.m. An hour after the restaurant's normal closing time, Coyne and Zehe leave. They get into Coyne's Jaguar but do not start the engine. Realizing that neither of them should drive, Zehe returns to the restaurant to call for a ride. When she goes back outside, the car is still in the lot, but Coyne is gone. Zehe takes the car the Woodhill Drive home.
MONDAY
2 a.m. Coyne is discovered drunk, nearly naked and passed out on a driveway about 3,000 feet from the restaurant where he was last seen. He does not remember how he got there.
Around 10 a.m., Coyne's friends John Zayak and Tony George meet with him at the Ohio City Deli. A repentant and fearful Coyne acknowledges his drinking problem and his need for treatment. George and Zayak help make travel arrangements to get Coyne to the Betty Ford Center in California.
SOURCES: Police report; interviews with John Zayak and Tony George
2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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Coyne gets 10-day jail term
Former Brook Park mayor sentenced upon return from rehab
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Michael O'Malley
Plain Dealer Reporter
Rocky River- Former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne, just five days out of a California clinic for alcohol addiction, was put behind bars on Monday.
Rocky River Municipal Judge Donna Congeni Fitzsimmons sentenced Coyne for violating probation, ordering him handcuffed and taken directly to jail for a 10-day stay.
"Every day I expect you to be sober," the judge told him. "I'm ordering you to do that."
Coyne, who was convicted of drunken driving in Westlake earlier this year, violated his probation last month with a drinking binge that left him passed out and lying nearly naked in a North Olmsted driveway.
The next day, some friends, restaurateur Tony George and former Cleveland Councilman John Zayac, booked Coyne on a flight to California, where he checked himself into the prestigious Betty Ford clinic near Palm Springs.
Coyne, who turned 55 last week, left the clinic Wednesday after 30 days of treatment.
Wearing a black suit and shaking hands with reporters, the former chairman of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections appeared in court with his lawyer, Jim McDonnell, and longtime friend Ken Seminatore.
"I learned that alcoholics and addicts are not fools, are not criminals," Coyne told the judge. "They are sick."
Describing himself as a "hard-working, hard-playing individual," Coyne admitted violating the probation order and pledged to kick his addiction and turn his life around. "I want to live," he told the court.
Fitzsimmons continued the probation for two years.
During that period, he cannot drive a vehicle until he can prove to the court - through random alcohol screenings and reports from counselors - that he can remain sober.
Once the court is satisfied that Coyne has stopped drinking, he will only be able to drive a vehicle equipped with an alcohol-detection device.
"Your 30 days at the Betty Ford clinic were the easy days," said Fitzsimmons.
"The really hard days are the days ahead."
The judge also ordered Coyne to attend daily Alcoholics Anony mous meetings.
Nodding toward a courtroom cluster of reporters and television cameras, Coyne joked, "I'm probably the only alcoholic in Northeast Ohio who is not anony mous."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
momalley@plaind.com, 216-999-4893
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Former Mayor Found Naked Sentenced To 10 Days In Jail Sentence Begins Immediately
POSTED: 12:07 pm EDT September 20, 2004
CLEVELAND -- Former Brook Park mayor Thomas Coyne was sentenced to 10 days in jail today for violating his probation on a drunken driving charge, NewsChannel5 reported.
SLIDESHOW: Police Find Nude Coyne
The charge stems from an incident in which Coyne was found lying drunk in a driveway of a North Olmsted home.
Coyne appeared in Rocky River Municipal Court and before he was sentenced he made a statement.
"This has been very humbly experience for me, one that can be a positive one. I think my nature of my business and upbringing, I was a hardworking, hard-playing individual. It was difficult for me to recognize my issues. You did that. You gave me an opportunity to correct those. You were right, and I was wrong."
He was taken away immediately.
The sentencing also comes after Coyne checked himself into the Betty Ford Rehabilitation Center in California.
He was recently released from the rehabilitation center.
Coyne was on probation for a March drunken driving conviction.
Police reported Coyne started that night at a Mexican restaurant, where police said he and a companion ate and drank margaritas until about 11 p.m. Sunday.
When he was found in the driveway, police said he told them that he was home sleeping and that his car was parked downstairs.
His blood alcohol level reportedly registered three times the legal limit, WEWS reported.
Previous Stories:
September 20, 2004: Coyne Scheduled To Be In Court Today
September 16, 2004: Former Mayor Released From Betty Ford Clinic
August 18, 2004: Mayor Found Nude Checks Into Rehab
August 17, 2004: Dash-Cam Video Shows Former Mayor Naked
August 17, 2004: Coyne Expected To Turn Self Into Police
August 16, 2004: Former Mayor Found Naked On Side Of Road
March 22, 2004: Former Mayor To Start Serving Jail Time
March 8, 2004: Former Mayor Sentenced To Jail Time For Drunken Driving
February 26, 2004: Former Mayor Found Guilty Of Drunken Driving