PITTSBURGH — Prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to jail a computer science professor who was charged with drunken driving three times in eight days because they are afraid he might harm himself or someone else.

Carnegie Mellon University professor Jeffrey Hunker, 51, of Pittsburgh was arrested for driving under the influence three times between Aug. 17 and Sunday.

In the first case, police said Hunker drove through a neighbor's yard, ran over a small tree and hit a house.

In the second, Hunker was seen at the wheel of his heavily damaged car. A police officer pulled him over and said Hunker failed a field sobriety test and a blood-alcohol test.

The third arrest came Sunday after someone called police to report that Hunker was suicidal. By the time an officer arrived, Hunker had driven off in a new BMW. Police tracked him down, and he was arrested after admitting he had consumed a pint of vodka.

Hunker did not return messages.

The Allegheny County District Attorney on Thursday filed a bond-revocation motion, which a judge was set to hear this morning, prosecutors' spokesman Mike Manko said.