BUTLER TWP — A Center Township man may be the first person in Butler County to have been charged under the state's new law that increases penalties for repeat drunken drivers.

Charles L. Henry, 54, is accused of felony driving under the influence. That charge — felony DUI — has only been on the books for six weeks in Pennsylvania.

The law was in effect for less than a month when Henry was arrested in January for allegedly being more than three times the commonwealth's legal limit for alcohol following a crash in a store parking lot.

It was also his third DUI offense in less than 10 years.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger on Tuesday could not say for certain, but he believes the case could be the first one locally.

“If not the first,” he said, “it's one of the firsts.”

In October, the state legislature passed a bill that called for harsher legal consequences for some repeat offenders. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the measure.

Under the new law, someone with a third offense in a decade — with at least twice the legal limit — or any four-time offender faces a felony.

Previously, all DUIs in the state were treated as misdemeanors.

Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors and carry stiffer penalties, such as longer jail or prison sentences and costlier fines.

The new DUI is overdue, Goldinger said, and it offers appropriate consequences for chronic offenders. It also will serve to make roads safer.

“If this is your third or fourth DUI,” he said, “you have an obvious problem and you haven't learned your lesson. You're also creating a hazard on the highway.”

Henry finds himself charged under the new law that stems from a crash call last month.

Butler Township police said the defendant accidentally backed his sport utility vehicle into a parked gasoline tanker truck around 12:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at the GetGo convenience store parking lot on Route 8 north.

The wreck was bad enough to leave the SUV with rear-end damage and a broken rear windshield, police said. The truck had passenger-side fender damage.

The driver of the truck was out of the vehicle at the time of the accident. He told police that he heard the crash and turned to find the SUV up against his truck, according to court documents, and “glass everywhere.”

In talking to and watching Henry, the truck driver suspected he was intoxicated and called police.

The defendant told police that he was unsure what had happened, documents said. He said he had just gotten off work and denied having had any alcohol to drink.

But he subsequently showed impairment during field sobriety tests, police said. A portable breath test device also showed that he had alcohol in his system.

Police said Henry eventually admitted that he had been drinking at work that day.

He was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for a blood test, which indicated his blood-alcohol level was 0.263 percent. In Pennsylvania, a level of 0.08 percent is considered intoxicated.

On Friday, police charged Henry with a felony and misdemeanor counts of DUI. He also is charged with illegally operating a vehicle not equipped with a court-ordered ignition interlock system.

According to court records, he was convicted of DUI in Allegheny County in 2002 and 2009, and in Fayette County in 2013.

Online court records did not indicate if Henry has an attorney. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.