Darren White, who has been the center of controversy in Albuquerque the past week following his wife's car accident, retired Friday from his job as Albuquerque's public safety director and resigned from the state Judicial Standards Commission.

According to a written statement released late Friday afternoon, White — a former state Department of Public Safety secretary, a former sheriff of Bernalillo County and a Republican candidate for Congress in 2008 — continued to maintain he'd done nothing wrong in the incident by driving his wife to the hospital instead of allowing her to ride in an ambulance.

He said he was stepping down from his public safety job "to end the distraction surrounding my wife's recent accident and allow Mayor Richard Berry and city leaders to focus on the important issues the people of Albuquerque deserve to have addressed."

He said the investigation into the car accident "must move forward, and I intend to work hard to clear my name and stand up for my wife, whose medical condition was improperly made public through the illegal leaking of confidential medical records."

A spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez confirmed that White had resigned from the Judicial Standards Commission. The governor had appointed White to that post earlier this year.

Hours before White's announcement, The New Mexican asked Martinez about White serving on the commission.

She said that anyone who has "done wrong" shouldn't be allowed to serve on state boards and commissions. But she added that she'd reserve judgment on the actions of White until an independent investigation into the accident was completed.

"'I'm just going to step back and let the process work," Martinez told a reporter following the governor's speech at the annual meeting of the State Bar of New Mexico at the Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in Pojoaque on Friday morning.

White was an early supporter of Martinez's gubernatorial campaign and appeared in television ads for her.

Kathleen White smashed her black Porsche into a curb at the intersection of Montgomery and Juan Tabo boulevards at about 8:20 a.m. July 6. Some have questioned whether Darren White acted properly when he arrived at the scene shortly after the wreck and took his wife to the hospital.

Police did not test Kathleen White for driving while intoxicated, even though, according to media reports, she told an officer she was taking prescription drugs and a witness at the scene said she appeared to be "out of it." Police have said there were no signs of drugs or alcohol at the crash scene.

Darren White released medical records Monday showing that a doctor at Presbyterian Hospital diagnosed Kathleen White with "new onset seizures." The records said Kathleen White tested negative for numerous prescription and illegal drugs.

"We never would have released any of my wife's personal medical history until we learned from the media that someone illegally leaked her confidential, and misleading, medical records to the press," Darren White said in his statement Friday. He said whoever leaked the records is guilty of a federal crime.

"No doctor, including my wife's own physician, believe that the medical condition that caused the accident had anything to do with the medication she has been taking daily without complication for over a year," Darren White's statement said.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.