Story Archive

Crackdown

H. Wayne DeWitt, 63, was charged with drunk driving and hit and run after an injury crash in Goose Creek, S.C.; he was pulled over by local police after a short chase of over 100 mph, and identified as the driver in the crash. The arrest happened to come at the start of the third annual “Sober or Slammer” anti-drunk driving campaign run by Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne DeWitt. Sure enough, Sheriff DeWitt, who was just re-elected this fall, was driving a county vehicle at the time. His arrest by state troopers may have been illegal: according to state law, only a coroner has the power to arrest a county sheriff. When the judge was setting DeWitt’s bail (just short of $11,000), he asked the sheriff’s attorney if he’d like to make a motion regarding his client’s arrest. The attorney said he would address that in a later court hearing. Because he refused a breath test, the sheriff’s driver’s license was automatically suspended, and he faces up to a year in his own jail. DeWitt has refused to resign, but has turned over day-to-day operations of the sheriff’s office to the chief deputy. (RC/Charleston Post and Courier) ...The coroner, eh? Well, he’s also uniquely qualified to declare DeWitt’s career dead.