Tony Santaela

WLTX-TV, Columbia, S.C.

Robert St. Onge Jr. registered 0.20 percent on breath test

He was released on his own recognizance

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley appoints interim director

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The director of South Carolina's Department of Transportation resigned Friday after being arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

Robert St. Onge Jr., 66, submitted his resignation to Gov. Nikki Haley's office.

"With heartfelt regret, I am resigning my position as Secretary of Transportation effective today due to personal reasons," St. Onge wrote in his letter.

Lexington County deputies arrested St. Onge on Friday at around 8 a.m. on Interstate 20. State troopers were called to the scene to assist with the stop.

According to state troopers, St. Onge was driving erratically and failed a field sobriety test. He was taken to the jail where troopers say his blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.20 percent in a breath test, more than twice the legal threshold of 0.08 percent.

He was then booked at the Lexington County Detention Center just before 10 a.m., and was later was released on a personal recognizance bond.

St. Onge had served as the leader of the transportation agency since February of 2011. Previously, he served 34 years in the Army, retiring as a major general in 2003.

"General St. Onge is a good man with a lifetime of service to his country, and more recently, our state," said Haley spokesman Doug Mayer in a statement. "That said, we have a no tolerance policy for our state agency directors, and so General St. Onge has resigned as Secretary of Transportation. The governor thanks him for his work fixing the serious fiscal issues he inherited at the Department of Transportation -- the state is better off because of his service."

Christy Hall, the deputy secretary of finance and procurement at the Department of Transportation, will serve as acting secretary. Haley's office says she plans to find a permanent appointee for Senate confirmation this session.