NORTH TONAWANDA — Police said Wednesday that they have charged City Attorney Edward A. Zebulske III with drunken driving after they responded to a report of a minor traffic accident on Webster Street on Saturday night.
Zebulske, 53, was charged with driving while intoxicated and unsafe backing.
North Tonawanda Police Chief Keith Glass said Zebulske was pulling out of a parking spot on Webster Street about 7 p.m. Saturday when he backed up into another parked car, causing minor damage.
“There were witnesses who saw (the accident) and (Zebulske) started to pull away because he didn’t realize he had hit the other vehicle,” Glass said.
Those witnesses called police, who responded and administered field sobriety tests to Zebulske because they suspected he might be intoxicated. Glass said that the city attorney failed the sobriety tests and was detained and charged.
The police chief called the incident “very routine.”
“(Zebulske) was very cooperative with police,” Glass said.
Zebulske could not immediately be reached for comment.
North Tonawanda is the only municipality in Western New York that elects its city attorney. Throughout the rest of the region, the post is an appointment of a mayor or supervisor.
North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec said Zebulske had not indicted if he would continue in his post or take a leave of absence while his criminal case is pending.
“We haven’t spoken about it,” Tylec said. “He just showed up for work on Monday. He’s elected. He can do what he chooses.”
In the November general election, North Tonawanda voters rejected a proposition that would have made the city’s attorney’s position a mayoral appointment rather than an elected office. Tylec declined to say whether he believed Zebulske should take a leave of absence or resign.
“I’m not in a position to tell him what to do,” Tylec said. “But past practice suggests he might want to step down.”
Zebulske was chosen to be the city attorney in January 2022, by the North Tonawanda Common Council, after the then-city attorney Luke Brown resigned to take a seat on the NT City Court bench. Zebulske was one of three attorneys the council interviewed to replace Brown.
In the 2022 general election, Zebulske was elected to fill the remaining 3 years of Brown’s unexpired term. He was an assistant North Tonawanda city attorney from 1998 to 1999.
Zubulske has also been a part-time assistant Niagara County public defender and has maintained a private law practice.
Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman said his office will ask for the appointment of a special prosecutor to handle Zebulske’s case.
“We’ll ask for a special prosecutor because of the close working relationship he has had with members of my office,” Seaman said.