Outtakes from Donnie Myers’ Highway Patrol videotape

Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Donnie Myers was not pleased with being arrested for DUI around 8 p.m. Monday after wrecking and abandoning his car and flagging down a ride to his Lake Murray area home.

But overall, a Highway Patrol videotape shows that Myers – although he cussed and grumbled about his plight now and then – answered S.C. trooper Cpl. Robert Rowe’s questions. And he did not resist when handcuffed and put in Rowe’s car for a trip to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

After the trooper arrives at Myers’ house, Myers comes to the door and walks to the garage, where the two talk about the accident, Rowe reads him the Miranda warning, gives him sobriety tests and puts him under arrest before driving him to the jail.

Here are some excerpts from the 62-minute videotape released Thursday by the S.C. Department of Public Safety:

Rowe: “How much have you had to drink.”

Myers. I had one drink”

Rowe: “You know you had a pistol in the car?”

Myers: “You know who gave me that pistol?”

Rowe: “No.”

Myers: “Pete Strom.” (The late Strom was a longtime, legendary SLED chief.)

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Myers – with a handkerchief to his nose – says, “S.O.B. ran me off the road.”

It is an assertion Myers repeatedly states – that his crash was precipitated by another driver coming at him and he was scared so he ran off the road.

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After Rowe decides that Myers has failed a sobriety test, Rowe asks him to turn around and put his hands behind him. “I’m placing you under arrest for driving under the influence.”

At that, Myers groans. “Ah, man.”

He then begins saying repeatedly, “I can’t believe you are doing this. ... I cannot believe you are doing this. This is truly unbelievable.”

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Later, while Rowe is driving to jail, Myers also stresses that he was the one who first notified law enforcement of the incident.

“I called the Highway Patrol and SLED and (Lexington County Sheriff) Jay Koon.”

Trooper Rowe: “Why didn’t you just call *47 (the patrol’s emergency number) like everybody else?”

Myers: “I know (Patrol Capt.) Jones Gamble. I know (SLED Chief) Mark Keel. I know Jay Koon. I get more service out of them. Think I’d call them if I was doing something wrong? (Expletive.) If you are doing something wrong, you don’t call SLED and the Highway Patrol and the sheriff.”

****

When Myers repeats that someone was trying to kill him, Rowe says: “You can’t be out there drinking and driving.”

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Myers also tells Rowe that, “I hit my head pretty hard,” but several times turns down Rowe’s offer of an ambulance.

Compiled by staff writer John Monk

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Outtakes from Donnie Myers’ Highway Patrol videotape."