Berkeley County (SC) Sheriff Wayne DeWitt charged with DUI, leaving scene of wreck

[alp227]

Source: Charleston Post and Courier

Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne DeWitt was granted a personal recognizance bond Sunday night at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center after allegedly plowing into another vehicle while driving drunk in a county-owned pickup and then leaving the scene.

Judge James A. Polk said he issued the $10,997 unsecured bond because DeWitt, dressed at the hearing in a large camouflage jacket, gray T-shirt and jeans, was arrested by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and not a coroner, which is the only position in the state legally empowered to arrest a sheriff. He also questioned whether or not he had the authority to issue a bond since they could be dealing with an illegal arrest.

Polk asked Robert Wyndham, DeWitt's attorney, if he would like to make an argument regarding the arrest, but he declined and said that would be reserved for later court proceedings. A February 11 court date was set for the DUI charge. The hit and run charge court date has not yet been set.

DeWitt, 63, of Stratford Drive in Goose Creek, did not make any statements during the bond hearing, and Wyndham requested the personal recognizance bond on his behalf. Wyndham said all of DeWitt's personal and professional ties were in Berkeley County and that he was neither a flight risk nor a danger to society.

Read more: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20141228/PC16/141229491

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The State (Columbia) - Berkeley County Sheriff charged with DUI after leaving scene of crash

This guy is such a dimwit ain't he?

[NBachers]

1. A coroner?

[ColesCountyDem]

8. Yes, the coroner.

The law is the same in Illinois: only the county coroner has the power to arrest the county sheriff, and to exercise the powers of acting sheriff in the event of a vacancy in office or in the event of a conflict of interest.

These laws hearken back to the Middle Ages, when the only person empowered to arrest the shire's reeve (sheriff) was the crown's appointed representative (coroner).

[Ken Burch]

2. Why is the judge trying so hard to let this dipshit off the hook?

Is there nobody else in the whole state who could possibly take over as sheriff?

What makes DeWitt so freaking special?

[Ken Burch]

3. Posting this shot of DeWitt at the hearing, because it seems to say so much about the man.

[Skittles]

4. DeNitWitt

[lib87]

5. Ewww

He reminds me of a villain in an old south movie.

Filth.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. I'd say something about the stereotyping, but

I'm fryin' me up some possum vittles in the skillet for breakfast.

Hat tip, Doc Watson, for the reference on Will the Circle be Unbroken (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album).

And, yes, there is some material in the Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers catalog that you aren't about to hear on the radio.

[jtuck004]

6. A drunk at the wheel, assaults someone, and a peace officer doesn't have the legal right to

stop them and effect an arrest, preventing further death and destruction? I smell a relative.

So they should hold them at the scene and call the coroner, who delivers field sobriety tests and makes arrests on a regular basis ?

"Dammit, sit up and blow into this. Death is no excuse in South Carolina."

[Sancho]

14. Just about everyone in the county is related..

[nikto]

7. I can tell he's totally innocent of all charges----Isn't it obvious?

I mean, he's, you know...white.



Case closed, right?

[Hoppy]

9. In this case, the S.C. law needs to be changed.

[Archae]

10. He'll "find Jay-zus," and get off with a piddly fine.

[surrealAmerican]

12. Can they remove him from office first, and then arrest him?

There must be an unambiguously legal way to arrest a sheriff.

[madokie]

13. Goes to show that alcohol is a bad drug

you can drink enough to make you do some real stupid shit and not give to shits about it when you do it.

throw his sorry drunken ass in the clink for a few days anyway.