Myers says he was run off the road; anti-DUI advocates want him to quit or get help

Donnie Myers told troopers investigating his car wreck that he had only one drink and that another car ran him off the road.

The 11th circuit solicitor also left a gun in his wrecked and abandoned car, on the driver’s side floorboard, according to a Highway Patrol report on the accident that was released Tuesday evening.

Troopers smelled alcohol when they found Myers’ car abandoned around 8 p.m. Monday, according to the report. It had crashed into a utility pole at Old Chapin and Beechcreek roads north of Lexington, about a mile from Myers’ Lake Murray home.

When a trooper went to Myers’ house, Myers told him he had had one drink and hadn’t had a drink since arriving home. The trooper said he escorted Myers to the home’s garage area, where Myers struggled when reciting the alphabet. He also failed other sobriety tests, the report says.

Meanwhile, anti-DUI advocates on Tuesday called for the veteran prosecutor either to resign or get help after his third arrest for an alcohol-related offense in a little more than 10 years.

“He should quit immediately,” said David Longstreet, who led a successful push for stronger penalties for repeat DUI offenders. “I’ve heard people in the community express concern about his alcohol consumption.”

Longstreet is pressing Myers to quit by Wednesday or face a citizens’ campaign demanding that he resign.

The state’s most recent crackdown on repeat DUI offenders is named for Longstreet’s daughter Emma, 6, who died Jan. 1, 2012, in a crash caused by a motorist now imprisoned for felony drunken driving.

Myers, first elected solicitor of the 11th Judicial Circuit in 1976, couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

Other anti-DUI advocates besides Longstreet say it’s clear Myers needs assistance to kick a problem.

“I’m very, very disappointed and embarrassed,” said Laura Hudson of Lexington, executive director of the South Carolina Crime Victims’ Council. “It’s an embarrassment to the county. It’s obvious he has a problem he can’t deal with.”

Any DUI arrest involving a public official is troubling, said Steven Burritt, program director at the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“Without commenting on this case specifically, the idea that anyone in a position of leadership did this is offensive, disheartening,” Burritt said.

His latest arrest comes as he prepares to seek re-election later this year.

The arrest by the South Carolina Highway Patrol isn’t the first time Myers, 70, has faced charges for DUI.

He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2005 in North Carolina.

In 2012, he was charged with having an open container of alcohol in his car after a state trooper stopped him in Lexington County for suspicion of DUI. In that instance, Myers underwent a field sobriety test, then was issued a traffic ticket and allowed to drive home after a 15-minute traffic stop.

Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office declined comment. “This case is new and law enforcement still has it,” Wilson spokesman J. Mark Powell said.

Wilson has supervisory authority in the handling of criminal matters by prosecutors.

Gov. Nikki Haley’s office noted she can suspend local officials only if they are indicted by a grand jury for a crime involving moral turpitude or have waived such indictment.

The arrest came after the Highway Patrol was called to the scene of a single-vehicle collision about 8 p.m. Monday, S.C. Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Kelley Hughes said.

Myers told a trooper at the scene that he had had one drink at Uno’s, a pizzeria in Lexington, the incident report said.

Several firefighters who also responded to the accident scene stayed with the car, the report said.

Myers was arrested and transported to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in adjoining Richland County, where he took a breath test, Hughes said.

That test resulted in a 0.09 percent blood-alcohol content, “which is above the chargeable level (0.08 percent) for DUI in South Carolina,” Hughes said.

Myers was charged with driving under the influence.

PAST PROBLEMS

Myers was first elected chief prosecutor for Lexington, Saluda, Edgefield and McCormick counties in 1976. In a past profile, Myers said he likes to drink and party.

Drinking got him into trouble in 2005 when he was arrested for DUI while attending a conference in Asheville, N.C. According to police citations, Myers’ blood-alcohol level was tested twice, registering .14 and .13. The legal level then used for evidence of impairment in North Carolina was .08.

Myers was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty to driving while impaired and having an open container.

He then called the conviction embarrassing but said, “I felt like I did the right thing” in pleading guilty.

The latest arrest isn’t the first time Myers has encountered trouble on Lexington County roads.

He was stopped in 2012 when a trooper spotted his car swerving on Old Cherokee Road and found a mixed drink inside.

In a dashcam video, Myers told the trooper the drink was scotch that former state Sen. Jake Knotts had been drinking. He later told the trooper the drink belonged to his girlfriend, who was no longer in the car. Later, Myers admitted he had had two drinks.

When the trooper asked to administer sobriety tests, Myers told him he couldn’t perform those checks because he had had back and shoulder surgery.

The trooper gave Myers a test in which a suspect must follow the movement of a pen with his eyes.

At one point, a second trooper removed the cup of liquor from Myers’s car, sniffing it and setting it on the trunk. The first trooper later poured the liquid onto the ground and walked off with the cup.

The video ends with the trooper handing Myers a ticket and telling him he had a court date. Myers told him, “You’re a good man.”

KNOWN FOR FLAIR

Myers is known for courtroom theatrics, bold fashion, chewing tobacco and frequently pursuing, and often winning, the death penalty for those charged with/convicted of murder.

He is the last of three longtime law enforcement leaders in Lexington County nicknamed “the Three Musketeers” still in office.

Harry Harman died in office in 2014 after 37 years as coroner.

Ex-sheriff James Metts is serving a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge that he allowed the release of two illegal immigrants from the county jail he supervised during nearly 42 years in office

Myers’ clout is such that no one is openly mentioned as a successor as he approaches what might be his last political campaign.

Like judges, solicitors must retire at the end of the year in which they turn 72, said Megan Lightle, a spokeswoman for the State Retirement System.

So, Myers would be forced to step down from a position many say he dearly loves.

County legislators have sponsored a proposal that would allow him to remain on, but say it is stalled by concern among other lawmakers that it would open the way for others to demand similar treatment.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Myers says he was run off the road; anti-DUI advocates want him to quit or get help."