Truth Will Out

 

Truth will out. It’s an old saying that some have come to view with a certain amount cynicism when it comes to Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt and his little fiefdom. In the past few hours new details have been released about DeWitt’s criminal behavior last December 28th. Being cynics ourselves, we expected the release of these reports and videos to take at least 30 days. The South Carolina Highway Patrol surprised us, though. We suppose it doesn’t help that DeWitt has referred to Governor Haley in the past as everything ranging from a vulgar term for female genitalia to a hooker. We suspect the Governor was behind this early release of information before the FOIA deadlines imposed by law.

Of course, the folks over at the Propaganda & Criminals are taking all the credit for the release of information, like they were the only “news” organization to file a FOIA over this incident. Actually, WCIV News 4 beat everyone out of the gate with this new information.  The “breaking news” piece at the P & C was rather interesting. They sure went into a lot of detail about the officer who stopped DeWitt as if they were attempting to deflect the fecal storm quickly approaching for the Sheriff they have covered up for the past few years.

Back in August we broke the news that a BCSO deputy was driving with a suspended license when he was involved in a collision on duty. In that same post we told you about a lieutenant at BCSO who also had a suspended license. The license of the deputy was suspended for a lapse in insurance coverage on a personal vehicle (not all that uncommon) while the license of the lieutenant was said to be suspended for child support issues.

We know of a few folks who have the former situation happen to them without realizing it, especially when dealing with a divorce situation. Only one of those two was let go; the one with no political pull with BCSO. Fortunately, he cleared up his insurance issues and was hired by Hanahan because we have heard from the day our article was published he was a good officer. The P & C tries to make hay out of the fact that this officer was the one who stopped Sheriff DeWitt, as if he had any input into where and when the Sheriff decided to drink and drive.

As we have pointed out multiple times in the past, every media outlet in the Lowcountry is guilty of covering up the many “indiscretions” of Sheriff DeWitt we have detailed in these pages. The only reason they are reporting on this incident is because a Hanahan officer had the courage to detain the Sheriff and a Trooper had the courage to arrest him. Once that arrest was made it was very difficult for the Lowcountry “news” people to ignore it.

We thought we would post the reports for you to see rather than type everything word for word.

 

 

 

 

The traffic tickets below are also evidence that there was an effort to hide DeWitt’s presence in the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center prior to our article breaking the news of his arrest. Note the Trooper used his full name on the citations. We can assume she also used DeWitt’s full name on the booking report. The same full name which is probably on his drivers license.

 

 

 

Here is the booking information from the SACDC almost two hours after we were told the booking had been completed. You can make your own judgements about what was happening that morning.

 

 

 

 

We found this tow report very interesting and helpful in clearing up some things. During the past week we have heard a lot of disinformation spread by the DeWitt camp. Things like, “His 18 year old dog died and he was upset so he went on a drinking binge,” or “He had a drink at 10 p.m. with his wife, then took an Ambien and had to be in a tree stand early in the morning”.

Ever been deer hunting? Most hunters we know are in a stand well before 5:45 in the morning. The tow sheet below puts the lie to that story. As you can see the only property listed on the vehicle inventory was DeWitt’s police radio, blue lights, sunglasses, a tool box and a bed extender. Who goes hunting without a weapon?

Also present on the inventory is the “unopened” bottle of vodka which is listed in the Trooper’s report as an open container. Hmmm……….

“There was absolutely no damage to the Sheriff’s truck” is another story we have heard. We can’t tell you if his dog died or not, but we can tell you there was damage to the truck simply because this report indicates that damage in a most basic way - circling the number that corresponds to that damage. That circle just happens to be at the front of the vehicle, exactly where we would expect it to be after DeWitt rear ended an innocent citizen.

 

 

Now for some analysis. The collision report and the incident report indicate DeWitt struck the victim’s vehicle at 5:45 a.m. The Trooper didn’t arrive on-scene until 6:28 a.m. When she arrived she was told a suspect who had fled the scene was being detained in Hanahan.

 

 

 

 

The exceptionally detailed account of the field sobriety tests conducted by the Trooper should tell everyone Sheriff DeWitt was well past the .08 limit. It sounds more like he was around the .25 level. A good indicator of that is the bit of conversation about a tailgate noted by the Trooper. DeWitt barely even knew where he was.

Now, let’s address the issue of the vehicle pursuit at over 100 mph. As you can see in the video below, if anyone other than the Sheriff of Berkeley County was driving that pickup truck he or she would have been charged with Failure to Stop for Blue Lights. We suspect if Sheriff Cannon had been chasing Sheriff DeWitt he might have slapped the snot out of him when he finally stopped. When asked why DeWitt was not hit with that failure to stop charge, Chief Mike Cochran of the Hanahan Police Department issued a cop-out statement of, “Everything was turned over to Highway Patrol”. The Highway Patrol spokesman told the P&C that charge would have to come from Hanahan.

In other words, no charge of Failure to Stop for Blue Lights will be forthcoming. We will get into one reason why after you view the video.

 

 

 

 

If that video isn’t evidence of Failure to Stop for Blue Lights we don’t know what is. DeWitt was so drunk he didn’t even realize he was passing a Hanahan patrol car at over 100 mph. Or maybe he just didn’t care, figuring he was the Sheriff and no one could arrest him anyway. Surprise, Slick!

To fully understand the reluctance of the Hanahan Police Department to charge DeWitt with failure to stop we have to look at his actions prior to and subsequent to this incident. For decades DeWitt has been engaging in shady dealings with BCSO with little fear of being exposed by the local media. We suspect he has dirt on a few of them and can keep them reigned in. The incidents we have written about in the past two years are just the tip of that corrupt iceberg out there in Berkeley County. Even with federal investigators poking around out there DeWitt thinks he is untouchable.

That perception of invincibility was reinforced when DeWitt’s buddy Judge Polk tried to imply the arrest of his friend was illegal. In an ideal world, Polk would have recused himself from that bond hearing, but this is Berkeley County we are talking about. How many times do you hear about a sitting judge, who is supposed to be impartial, injecting his erroneous interpretation of the law into a bond hearing? This was not a preliminary hearing where a judge determines if there was probable cause for an arrest. It was bond hearing, plain and simple.

Combine that with the statement DeWitt waited to issue until he discovered the SCHP was releasing documents and video pertaining to his arrest. Here is that statement.

 

 

 

As you can see, DeWitt really has no character. He says he will “accept full responsibility for my conduct” and “whatever outcome the judicial process determines to be appropriate”.  An honorable man would accept responsibility and step down. In a normal situation we could say he would fire one of his employees for this behavior, but we have shown over the past two years that certain insiders there are protected from their bad acts by the Sheriff.

Do we really need to start posting copies of the multiple Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office policies the Sheriff violated, e.g. operation of a county vehicle, failure to submit to an alcohol/drug test, conduct unbecoming, just to name a few? We have those copies and don’t mind doing it. Let us know, Wayne.

Instead, DeWitt turns right around after saying he will accept full responsibility and says he will fight the charges, hanging his future on what a Berkeley County grand jury will do. How many of you actually expect DeWitt to be indicted in Berkeley County?

Chief Cochran of the Hanahan Police Department knows how Berkeley County works. He knows there is a very good chance DeWitt will stay in power, particularly since Scarlett Wilson is about to screw that pooch. By preventing his officers from charging DeWitt with Failure to Stop for Blue Lights he is preventing any future conflict between his agency and BCSO should DeWitt manage to stay in office. We just wish he would tell the truth instead of trying to hang responsibility for the charge on the South Carolina Highway Patrol. In our view, this course of action is a bit cowardly.

If you were counting on Scarlett Wilson to do the right thing in this case, you haven’t been paying much attention to our coverage of her. Or maybe she has been paying attention to it and sees this case as an opportunity. We don’t know what Wilson is thinking. Maybe she hopes to take down her enemy DeWitt, become a hero to the voters in the 9th Circuit and polish her image which has taken quite a few hits since we started this website. According to a statement Wilson gave to WCSC news today, she plans to let a Berkeley County grand jury decide whether or not to indict DeWitt. Is she really that stupid and politically tone deaf? Apparently so.

On the off chance a Berkeley County grand jury does indict DeWitt, the defense will claim he didn’t get a fair shake due to all of the publicity. Once it gets into court that could be grounds for a mistrial or become grounds for appeal in the unlikely event of a conviction.

There is another reason to wonder why Scarlett Wilson hasn’t kicked this case over to another circuit. Given the hatred DeWitt and Wilson have for one another, any conviction Wilson might get would immediately be appealed with the claim that Wilson was biased against DeWitt. Wilson has a definite conflict in prosecuting this case.

Don’t forget, DeWitt allowed Ricky Driggers to run the campaign of Wilson’s last opponent, Blair Jennings. He also allowed Driggers to use on-duty Berkeley County deputies to stand on street corners holding signs for the Jennings campaign. Don’t forget the fact that one of DeWitt’s employees cost Wilson a death penalty sentence on a murder case by suborning perjury among his fellow detention deputies and is still employed at BCSO. Wilson is still pissed about that. More on that employee benefiting from DeWitt’s current predicament below.

Let’s take a look at the video of the moments after DeWitt finally pulls over.

 

 

 

 

This video of the Trooper interviewing DeWitt is very revealing as to his level of intoxication. Some media outlets are reporting DeWitt says he last had something to drink at 4 p.m. He simply says ” I’ve been up since about 4, I think I had one”. It looks and sound more like he had one fifth, maybe.

 

 

 

 

This video of a portion of the field sobriety tests is also very revealing. DeWitt is obviously plastered.

 

 

 

 

Many of you have already brought up the comments off the officers as DeWitt is failing miserably at the field sobriety tests. This is what we hear:

“It is what it is.”

“Bet it gets swept under the rug.” Now there is an officer who knows how Berkeley County usually works.

“In the end, he’s an elected official. He can’t lose his job.”

We also hear the word “coroner” in there at one point.

 

There is one interesting note most folks are not aware of. On November 30th we told you about a BCSO sergeant allegedly charged with a DUI that wasn’t a DUI while driving his county vehicle. A shattered liquor bottle was found in the vehicle by SCHP. That deputy was suspended pending an investigation into the collision. This deputy has previously been protected by DeWitt. Now that Sheriff DeWitt has been charged with DUI and Leaving the Scene of an Accident there is a scramble to find that deputy another county vehicle to drive and bring him back to work ASAP.

Think about it. How can the dishonorable Sheriff have a deputy on suspension for an alleged DUI when the Sheriff was arrested for a very real DUI? Not that discipline was ever seriously enforced against BCSO insiders anyway. The only employees ever disciplined out there are the ones with no political pull or leverage or powerful friends and family.

In closing, we would ask where the video from the Goose Creek P.D. breathalyzer room is. Those videos still require a 20 minute observation period even if a drunk Sheriff (or citizen) refuses to submit to the test as required by law. In the case of Sheriff DeWitt, submitting to that test was also required by his department’s policy and his oath.

We have also learned there may be a video of the actual collision. We can’t wait to see that one.

Last week we pointed out that the Governor can remove an elected official due to malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetency, misconduct and persistent neglect of duty in office. Decide for yourself how many of those apply to Sheriff Wayne DeWitt. Below you will see Section 1-3-240 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

 

 

 

 

Here is an excerpt from an opinion of the South Carolina Attorney General in 2004 that supports our contention.

 

 

Citizens who are complaining to Berkeley County Council and demanding action are barking up the wrong tree. As you may have noticed in the past week, most of those folks are DeWitt supporters anyway and can’t bring themselves to even condemn the idiot for driving while intoxicated. Pressure needs to be put on the Governor and possibly the State Attorney General. Let the Governor know she should get the process started for removal under Section 1-3-240 based on the serious misconduct shown in the above videos. The State Attorney General should step in and take the criminal case out of the hands of Scarlett Wilson who doesn’t seem to be thinking clearly and logically.

Or maybe the political machine is just geared to exempt elected officials from the consequences of their criminal actions. You decide.

 

Update: To their credit, the P & C was the only media outlet to post the video of Sheriff DeWitt making a phone call to a woman not his wife from the front seat of the Trooper’s car. Unfortunately, they plastered their logo and some text all over the thing so we won’t post it here. Follow that link to find it. This video provides further proof that DeWitt is not a man with any integrity or honor.

In this video DeWitt calls a woman (not his wife) and tells her he in custody and to tell “Bennie” he can’t pick him up. This woman, who some have told us sounds like DeWitt’s secretary, asks four separate times, “Who is Bennie?” and “Who the hell is Bennie?” She obviously wasn’t picking up the code DeWitt was trying to put down. After she asks, “Who is Bennie” the last time, DeWitt says, “Bennie, your husband”. Suddenly it dawns on the female and she says, “Oh. What is it I need to do?” She then asks if he has called Al Cannon yet, in a tone of voice indicating she expected Sheriff Cannon to save him. Later she asks if he has talked to Ollic or an attorney.

WCBD, WCIV and WCSC - No balls!

All of DeWitt’s secrets are coming out now, huh?