A Republican officeholder was caught on camera failing a field sobriety test after being suspected of drunk driving.
South Carolina State Senator Paul Campbell‘s car had just struck the tail end of Michaela Caddin‘s car on I-26 last Saturday night.
Paul Campbell’s wife, Vicki Campbell, was also in the car at the time of the crash. And by the time police arrived, she was in the driver’s seat, too. The senator eventually claimed she was behind the wheel for the vehicular interaction.
But Caddins claims she saw the two Campbells switch seats after the impact. She said:
I was shocked when I heard the story he told the media. I was afraid when I heard a man entrusted with so much power say something that was so different from what I saw happen.
Eventually, a state trooper arrived. Senator Campbell was then asked to perform a field sobriety test and blow. He agreed to both.
Campbell’s breathalyzer results put his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.09%–just a notch above the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
While performing the requested field sobriety test–captured by the responding officer’s dashcam video–Campbell could barely keep it together. He slumped and had trouble standing when asked to walk in a straight line.
Insisting he wasn’t inebriated, Campbell blamed his poor performance on being diabetic and having one leg shorter than the other. Campbell was quickly arrested after blowing over the limit and failing to walk the line.
As he sat, hand-cuffed, in the back of the patrol car he whinged a bit about his continued employment in the public’s service, saying, “This may cost me my job. You know that, I guess.”
Campbell later complained about the handcuffs in particular and the general state of his life. He said:
This is not fun. This kinda sucks. I’m going to change the law on this…I’m not DUI. I wasn’t driving the car anyway.
Anyway, the state senator and his wife were later both charged with lying to the police, according to the Post and Courier.
[image via screengrab’ video courtesy South Carolina Highway Patrol]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
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