O'Hara High president charged with drunken driving

The president of Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield, Delaware County, has been arrested for driving while intoxicated.

William Joseph McCusker, 63, of Orchard Road in Springfield, was arrested about 9 p.m. last Tuesday after his car struck a parked truck on the 300 block of Summit Road, according to a police report.

McCusker said yesterday that he was trying to avoid a line of parked cars but swiped the back of one with his Ford Taurus.

"I made one of the worst mistakes of my life, that's for sure," he said. "My contrition, my sorrow, is as deep as it can possibly be."

McCusker said he had been out drinking with friends that evening and consumed three bourbon cocktails. He said he was alone in the car and thought he was fine to drive. He had missed a dose of medication for diabetes that evening and said he was unsure whether it caused some impairment.

A witness called police to the scene Tuesday night. Officer Kai DiRemigio noticed that McCusker's speech was slurred, according to a police report. McCusker failed three sobriety tests, and was charged with driving under the influence and careless driving.

Police are awaiting the results of a blood alcohol test to determine if McCusker was over the legal definition of drunken driving when he struck the car. The results can take up to six weeks, Springfield Police Chief Joseph Daly said.

McCusker was appointed the second president of Cardinal O'Hara in June 2001, after serving as principal since 1993, according to his biography on the school's Web site. The president runs the school and supervises the principal and assistant principals, McCusker said yesterday.

He added that he had notified the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia of the arrest, and that he planned to apologize to the O'Hara community.

"This is not what they expect from me," he said. "I'm crushed. This is everything I've worked for my whole life."

Donna Farrell, director of communications for the archdiocese, said it was too early to say whether the archdiocese would take disciplinary measures against McCusker.

"We're certainly disappointed to hear that this occurred," she said yesterday, but she added that McCusker "has been an outstanding employee of the archdiocese for years."