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A Republican state senator from South Carolina has issued a statement after being ticketed for public intoxication. State Senator Tom Davis left a party where he knew he had too much alcohol to drive but was hit for public intoxication by a police officer, WSPA reported.
He pulled his vehicle into a parking lot and disengaged it and sat in the car for more than an hour when he was approached by a Lexington Kentucky police officer.
“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,” he said. “Instead, I am going to learn from it and move forward with a greater sense of responsibility. I look forward to the opportunity to prove to my family and my constituents that I have learned from this mistake.”
It is not the first time this year that a prominent politician got in trouble with the law.
Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, was ticketed by the Lexington Police Department, he said in a statement released late Jan. 1. https://t.co/qaQAR2D2cx
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) January 2, 2023
In October, a Democrat campaigning for the position of auditor in Arkansas was arrested on charges of making terroristic threats.
Little Rock police arrested Diamond Arnold-Johnson for felony terroristic threatening, KARK reported.
Arnold-Johnson appears to have recorded the officers’ arrival on a Facebook Livestream, including her opening the door for them. Several uniformed Little Rock Police Department officers are seen in the video participating in the arrest. Arnold-Johnson is running for Arkansas state auditor. Early voting has been underway since Monday leading up to the Nov. 8 general election.
“Earlier today, we were made aware that Diamond Arnold-Johnson was arrested by Little Rock Police. Everyone has the right to due process; however, our Party firmly believes people must be held accountable for any criminal behavior, especially candidates for public office,” The Democratic Party of Arkansas said. “The Democratic Party of Arkansas did not recruit her to run for Auditor of State, and we cannot bar her from running for this position. We remain focused on working for a better Arkansas and winning races across the state.”
In December, New York Democrat Legislator Anthony J. Arquiett, 56, was arrested on charges of cocaine possession and being intoxicated while driving charges, Breitbart News reported.
He became the second Democrat politician in St. Lawrence County to be arrested on charges of possession of cocaine this year.
Arquiett, a St. Lawrence County legislator, was involved in a two-vehicle crash on December 4, according to NNY 360. The legislator allegedly told an officer, “I was heading home and I had too much to drink.” The officer searched Arquiett and allegedly found 2.5 grams of cocaine and two dextroamphetamine sulfate pills, NNY 360 reports.
His lawyer, Ed Narrow, told the New York Post that the legislator is due in court in January and he intends to plead not guilty. Narrow added that his client will not resign his seat in the legislature.
“North Country elected Democrats have a cocaine and crime problem,” upstate Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said to The Post.
“It is a disgrace that Arquiett refuses to resign and that fellow elected Democrats are silent,” she said.
Some experts who spoke with The Post said that drugs are a growing issue in the northern part of the state.
“I run the county jail and I gotta tell you, 60 to 80 percent of the inmates I have, have some sort of a drug issue,” Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said. “Now that we are getting over the opioid epidemic, cocaine seems to be filling in the gap.”
Tim Currier, then-mayor of Massena, a town nestled along the St. Lawrence River, and a former police chief there, was arrested Dec. 1, 2020, after allegedly leading local lawmen on a car chase through the village. He was spotted by detectives “throwing approximately one gram of crack cocaine out his passenger window,” according to the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s office.
He was cuffed at gunpoint, video of the arrest shows.
Currier, 56, was charged with drug possession, tampering with evidence and failure to comply with a police officer, the Sheriff’s Office said.
He resigned a month later. In a statement following the arrest, he said, “I made some poor decisions … I cannot express how embarrassed and disappointed [I am] in myself and for my family and friends.”
