Former news anchor pleads no contest to DUI charge

FORT LAUDERDALE— - Former South Florida television news anchor Lisa Hayward pleaded no contest on Thursday to a drunk-driving charge and was sentenced to six months' probation.

Hayward, 40, crashed her car into a tree on the 800 block of Northeast 26th Ave. in Pompano Beach on July 28, 2010. Her blood alcohol was measured at 0.17, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

County Court Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren accepted Hayward's no contest plea and sentenced her to probation, along with a six-month driver's license suspension, a $1,000 fine and DUI school.

At the time of her arrest, Hayward was the news anchor on the WSFL Morning Show, a weekday news program that shared resources with the Sun Sentinel. Both the station and the newspaper are owned by Tribune Company. The Morning Show has since been cancelled.

Before joining WSFL, she was a news anchor from 1998 to 2009 at WPBF in West Palm Beach.

raolmeda@tribune.com or 954-356-4457 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 954-356-4457