I just read the whole article and believe Powell got screwed. Don't New Jersey cops keep drunks in the tank overnight like most intelligent jurisdictions? If you put it to a vote, my guess is that most people would rather have it that way anyway. Who wants to get a call at 2am to pick up somebody?
Interestingly, no mention of whether John the Ensign had been drinking at mom's party before the accident. Charging Powell would be one way of avoiding an unpleasant fact such as that....