Police arrested New York Public Library President Anthony Marx in Harlem Sunday for driving while intoxicated after he hit a parked sanitation truck in reverse, the New York Post reported.

With a blood-alcohol level registering at 0.19, he far exceeded the legal limit of 0.08 while he was behind the wheel of an Audi, which belonged to the library.

It is believed Marx was trying to make his way around the New York City Marathon route on Fifth Avenue.

Franklin Hernandez, the sanitation worker in the truck Marx backed into, said it was easy to tell that he was drunk.

He just missed the truck in front of me... said Hernandez. I jumped out, and he tried to put the car in drive -- I just stood there in front of him, put my hand up and said, 'Do not move that car!'

The authorities released him Monday without bail after he pleaded not guilty to aggravated DWI. He's due back in court Dec. 9.

I'm sorry for any embarrassment to my family and to the library for this incident, and I'm going to leave it at that, he told The Wall Street Journal, which cited a criminal complaint mentioning that he had alcohol on breath and that his eyes were bloodshot.

The library issued a statement with an additional quote from Marx. My focus now is on moving forward and assuring that this incident does not detract from the important work and goals shared by all my colleagues, he said.

Marx took the job as library president when predecessor Paul LeClerc bowed out in July after working there for 17 years.

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