Woman on nabbed driver’s lap remains mystery

Picture this:  A former Congressman is pulled over on a main highway by a New York state trooper shortly after midnight after he is observed driving erratically with a woman positioned on his lap, according to authorities.

Now, in Hollywood that would be front-page news with photos and names of those involved along with a shot of the car --- a 2004 BMW sedan, notes Grumpy Editor.

With the Albany Times Union, however, the 24-year-old woman who was in the car with former Republican U.S. Rep. John Sweeney remains unidentified.

Sweeney, a former executive director of the state GOP, faces charges of driving while intoxicated and aggravated DWI.

Times Union editor Rex Smith says his newspaper knows the name of the female passenger who was in the car pulled over in Clifton Park, about 12 miles north of Albany, but isn’t naming her.

Thus, while the model year and manufacturer of the vehicle in the incident made it into print, the mystery woman on the driver’s lap was not, contributing to an incomplete story that is frowned on in Police Beat 101.