Editorial: Donnie Myers should resign if convicted

IF DONNIE MYERS is found guilty of his most recent DUI charge, he should resign as 11th Circuit solicitor.

Mr. Myers on Monday was charged with DUI after his car left a Lexington County road and hit a utility pole. Highway Patrol troopers smelled alcohol in Mr. Myers’ car; the solicitor failed a field sobriety test; and his blood-alcohol level registered 0.09 percent, according to reports.

As Mr. Myers and the rest of us know, a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The solicitor, like all other defendants, deserves his day in court.

But details of his most recent charge are troubling. When combined with his 2005 DUI in North Carolina and his 2012 open container citation in Lexington County, Mr. Myers’ latest charge suggests that he is not suited for public office.

The circumstances of Monday’s crash are baffling. Mr. Myers told a trooper that he had just one drink before the wreck, according to a report. He said he was driving home from a restaurant when another motorist ran him off the road and into a utility pole.

If he had just one drink, why did he not stay with his car after reporting the accident to authorities? If he had just one drink, why did troopers say they smelled alcohol in his car?

Why did troopers say they found a loaded gun on the floorboard of his car? Why was the car unlocked? Did Mr. Myers not have the presence of mind to take the gun and lock the car? Or to at least lock the gun in the car?

If he had just one drink, why did troopers say he failed field sobriety tests at his home? He said he had no drinks there. A lot happened between Mr. Myers’ one drink and his failed sobriety tests. His car crashed, he flagged down a motorist to drive him about a mile to his home, and a trooper went first to the crash scene and then to Mr. Myers’ home.

After all that time passed, why did Mr. Myers fail the tests?

If he had just one drink, why did a report say Mr. Myers’ blood-alcohol level register 0.09 percent? In South Carolina, it is a crime to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or above.

Mr. Myers’ blood-alcohol test was administered at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, about 25 miles from the crash scene. The means even more time passed between Mr. Myers’ one drink and his reported 0.09 blood-alcohol reading.

Mr. Myers may have logical explanations. Maybe he will prove he wasn’t driving impaired. But if a jury finds him guilty or he pleads guilty, how would a two-time DUI offender ethically prosecute drunk drivers who seriously injure or kill others?

Mr. Myers has built a strong reputation for being tough on criminals, especially murderers. Although their circumstances are different, drunk drivers and murderers have one thing in common: They kill people.

A drunk driver turns a vehicle into a lethal weapon. In South Carolina, nearly 360 people were killed by drunk drivers in 2012, according to 24/7 wallstreet.com. South Carolina ranked third that year in the rate of people killed by drunk drivers.

Not all drunk drivers kill. But they’re all playing Russian roulette, and their game risks not only their lives, but those of thousands and thousands of truly innocent people.

Just last week, a Lexington County motorist was charged with DUI after a crash caused a woman to go into labor and the newborn died.

Our editorial boarddid not call on Mr. Myers to quit after his 2005 DUI case.

While we condemn anyone who drives drunk, we don’t believe one charge necessarily indicates a problem serious enough for the accused to leave office immediately. But if Mr. Myers is found guilty of his second DUI, that would indicate a drinking problem or a belief that the law does not or should not apply to him.

It would raise questions about his prosecution of felony DUI cases. Would his office go easy on those defendants because the boss doesn’t believe DUI is serious? Would Mr. Myers and his office be hypocritical for prosecuting people who were simply less lucky than the solicitor?

Mr. Myers deserves his day in court. But if he can’t convincingly explain that he wasn’t driving drunk on Monday night, he needs to go.

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Editorial: Donnie Myers should resign if convicted."