Asst. US att'y needs a lawyer
Car-stop bust after butting in on NYPD
A federal prosecutor was busted Saturday during a DWI stop in Manhattan — and wasn’t even behind the wheel.
Assistant US Attorney Bianca Forde found herself needing a defense lawyer after she was arrested for trying to keep cops from administering a sobriety test to her boyfriend in Hell’s Kitchen, police and sources told The Post.
Forde, 35, was riding shotgun with her boyfriend when cops pulled over their 2020 Chevy Camaro at about 12:15 a.m. at West 40th Street and 11th Avenue, police said.
Forde, who works in the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, allegedly jumped out of the car, which had Virginia plates, ignoring police warnings to stay inside. She then began imploring her beau not to submit to the test, according to police, who said that she appeared to have been drinking.
According to prosecutors, Forde tried to use her prestigious job to intimidate officers — falsely telling them that she didn’t have to listen to them because she is an attorney.
The boyfriend, who is 40, eventually submitted to the test, passed and was not arrested, police said.
Instead, it was Forde, who flailed her arms in the air as cops attempted to cuff her, who was busted, police said.
Forde was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday night on three charges: obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and failing to obey police officers.
Her attorney, Lance A. Clarke, objected to courtroom photography by members of the press, claiming “safety concerns.”
But Judge James Clynes overruled him and Forde’s image was captured looking glumfaced at the bench.
During the arraignment, prosecutors revealed that Forde had told cops: “You have no right to ask him to exit the vehicle. This is against the law. I don’t have to listen to you — I’m an attorney. I’m barred in New York, I practice here. I’m a US attorney. I’m his attorney — he doesn’t have to blow.”
Clynes set a return date for Jan. 17. Forde has Big Apple-area connections.
She worked for three private law firms in the city — Dewey & LeBoeuf, Winston & Strawn and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy — and her mom lists her address as North Baldwin on Long Island. Records show Forde also lived in North Baldwin.
Forde investigates, indicts and tries firearms offenses for the US Attorney’s Office, where she has worked for the past four years, her LinkedIn page states.
Born in the US to Guyanese parents, Forde got her bachelor’s in political science from Duke University in 2005.
While there, she headed the fundraising committee for the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and was a soloist for the United In Praise Gospel Choir, her LinkedIn page says.
She went on to Boston College Law School, where she belonged to the Frederick Douglass National Moot Court Team and won the Best Oral Advocate Award.
The District Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not return a request for comment. Calls to Forde and her mother were not returned.
A man who identified himself as Forde’s uncle declined to comment Saturday afternoon beyond telling The Post the family wasn’t talking to anyone.
In a profile on Forde on the Duke Web site, she says it’s ironic that she’s had stints in law offices in Dubai, London and Paris, since she chose to emphasize American politics, rather than international relations because she did not expect to work abroad.
“In hindsight, my limited foresight is almost comical,” she wrote.