Police jailed SC Senator for hours after they found him "slumped" in his car with "extremely slurred speech"

[Carla_Sinclair]

Originally published at: Police jailed SC Senator for hours after they found him "slumped" in his car with "extremely slurred speech" | Boing Boing

…

[gracchus]

“Ah say, Ah say… burp … do you boys know who I am?”

[anon33932455]

But not a bad apology:

Davis said he believed the officers’ actions were appropriate.

“It was consistent with a concern for my safety and the safety of others,” he said. “I have no one to blame but myself. I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed my family, I embarrassed my colleagues, and I will try to learn from it and get better.”

[anon29537550]

@Carla_Sinclair

Davis said he believed the officers’ actions were appropriate.

“It was consistent with a concern for my safety and the safety of others,” he said. “I have no one to blame but myself. I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed my family, I embarrassed my colleagues, and I will try to learn from it and get better.”

Holy shit! Does he know which party he belongs to? He will get drummed out of the Senate for this! (Not the DUI, but acknowledging personal responsibility.)

[anon52120741]

Public intoxication? I don’t think so. In every jurisdiction I know of you get a DUI for being in a driver seat while drunk, regardless of whether you are actually driving it or not. There have even been cases where people put their keys outside the car - doesn’t matter. Then he can plead it down to a DWAI

[anon53189944]

Kinda amazing to see a politician actually admit fault like that.

That said, he still obviously drove drunk as he was in a different location than where he was drinking. I’m sort of surprised it was just a ticket for public intoxication. Here (Saskatchewan Canada), if you’re found in control of a vehicle like he was (slumped over the wheel), that’s a DUI even if the vehicle is parked and off.

[anon33932455]

Same in the US states in which I’ve lived. If you want to avoid the DUI, you need to move out of the driver’s seat, and put the keys somewhere unreachable. Supposedly.

[RickMycroft]

He was obviously intoxicated, and failed a a field sobriety test, but I notice that they didn’t breathalyze him, which would have quantified it and probably kicked in a lot more demerit points.

2.5 hour drive back to Beaufort. At least he didn’t do that, but he could have slept at a Holiday Inn Express just down the road.

[MonkeyT12]

The admission is nice (far more than you usually get from politicians), but I don’t actually hear an apology - which generally include phrases such as “I’m sorry”, “I apologize” or “I regret my actions.” He’s still painting himself as a responsible citizen, when the facts might be that stopping the car may not have been a conscious decision at all.

[anon33932455]

From the full text at the linked article:

“I am ashamed and embarrassed by what happened last night and I want to say I’m sorry to my family and to my constituents. I’m not going to deflect or excuse this mistake,” Davis said in a statement. “Instead, I am going to learn from it and move forward with a greater sense of responsibility.”

Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article270655567.html#storylink=cpy

[RickMycroft]

@MonkeyT12

when the facts might be that stopping the car may not have been a conscious decision at all.

A Lexington police officer reports finding Davis’ car parked outside of a designated parking space in the Target parking lot

Sound like he made the parking lot, but parking in an actual spot was beyond him.

[shichae]

@Carla_Sinclair

South Carolina state Sen. Tom Davis was arrested over the weekend for public intoxication after police found him slumped over the steering wheel of his car. An incident report described the Republican gentleman as having “extremely slurred speech and an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his person,” according to Yahoo! News.

He was also found to be “unsteady on his feet” with “glassy eyes” when asked to step out of his car, whereupon he “almost [fell] back against the side of his vehicle.”

This post deserves a NOFX Punk In Drublic soundtrack:

[euansmith]

@Carla_Sinclair

and I will try to learn from it

There’s his get-out, right there, “I tried to learn from the experience, but you can’t teach me nuthin’! Know Nothing For Life! Yahooooo!”

@anon33932455

and put the keys somewhere unreachable.

That was my excuse when interviewed for “Things Up Your Rectum Awards”.

@RickMycroft

Sound like he made the parking lot, but parking in an actual spot was beyond him.

He was maybe trying to find a spot near the Booze Aisle.

[bashful]

My gosh… What is the appeal to drinking THAT much? It doesn’t matter what your position in life, getting well beyond a buzz is never a good look.

[Peter_Willard1]

In some jurisdictions it’s whether or not the keys are in the ignition. I read a story about a case being thrown out because the person was in the back seat, but the arresting officer testified that he saw the keys in the ignition. It was a Prius.

[anon52120741]

I think what is important here is that in every other case they would definitely be going for a DUI in this situation and it would be a walk in the park to get a conviction

[jeddak]

OK, so at least there’s something a R senator is capable of being ashamed of. That’s good.

[da_Bird]

Ladies and gentleman, your new Speaker of the House!

[anon67050589]

Is it that Priuses don’t have ignition key slots, so there was no way to get around the fact that the officer was lying?

[Peter_Willard1]

Yes, that is it