PALMYRA, New York — The power of press drove a shame-faced bank executive to try to buy up all the copies of his local paper that featured his mugshot from a drunk driving bust.

James Talbot, a vice president of an arm of Key Bank, was busted on Dec. 29 after New York State police saw him swerving all over the road near Palmyra and he failed field sobriety tests.

At the station house, the 43-year-old Talbot called the trooper who arrested him an “asshole” who was ruining his family, the Times of Wayne County reported. He then refused to have his fingerprints and mug shot taken, saying he didn’t want his picture to appear “in that rag.”

The weekly Times of Wayne County regularly publishes short items and mug shots of everyone arrested in the county.

His resistance earned him an obstruction of justice charge in addition to the DWI. He was later released on $750 bond.

But when Saturday rolled around and the Times of Wayne hit newsstands, several operators called the paper to say that a man had been coming in and buying up all the copies. In all, Talbot took somewhere between 900 and 1,000 issues off the stands at $1.25 a pop.

In the end, the effort was futile, as the paper has a weekly circulation of 12,000 and also has a website, where a story about Talbot’s arrest featured prominently.