High-speed pursuit nets Bauer warnings
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer was pulled over - but not ticketed - by S.C. Highway Patrol doing 101 mph on the night of Feb. 25, after using the police radio in his state vehicle to try and communicate with the trooper pursuing him, according to documents obtained by The State this morning.
The failure of the trooper to give Bauer a ticket for speeding prompted Jim Schweitzer, director of the Department of Public Safety, to issue a memo last week to all officers that the "driver's status as a public official or prominent individual ... should never dictate the enforcement action taken."
Efforts to reach Bauer early Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful. He was presiding over the Senate's session.
When asked last week by The State if he had been pulled over by highway patrol in Chester County in the past several weeks, Bauer said, "Nope. I don't know why it's going around."
Bauer also was stopped, but not given a ticket, by Highway Patrol on Dec. 26 in Laurens County. According to the video of the stop obtained by The State, Bauer was told he was driving 77-78 mph. In that instance, he was driving a silver 2006 BMW, and told the trooper, when asked for his license and registration, that he might have a gun in the glove box.
- AARON GOULD SHEININ
