Post by WaTcHeR on Sept 3, 2006 13:29:36 GMT -5
09.03.2006 - LAKELAND _ Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence early Saturday, after Lakeland police said they saw him driving erratically and with his vehicle's headlights off on East Memorial Boulevard about 3 a.m.
After his release Saturday morning from the Polk County Jail, Wilkinson, 53, insisted that he was neither drinking nor using drugs when he was pulled over. His blood-alcohol test came back at 0.000, bolstering his arugment.
``I'm not guilty of anything,'' Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson's arrest comes just three days before Tuesday's Republican primary election. He faces a strong challenge from Betty Hill of Lake Wales, who has raised questions about Wilkinson's previous behavior.
Police say they charged Wilkinson because his speech was slow and slurred, his eyes bloodshot and watery, and he performed poorly on three sobriety tests. (( Sobriety test are only 60-70% accurate ))
Wilkinson said he didn't do well on the tests because he was tired after putting up campaign signs with supporters, including School Board candidate Ricky Shirah.
Shirah told The Ledger he and Wilkinson put up campaign signs until early in the morning. He said he was with Wilkinson until a few minutes before his arrest.
``He left my office at 15 'til 3 and I swear on my father's grave he was totally sober. And I don't think you can buy alcohol after 2 a.m.,'' Shirah said. ``I am telling you, this is wrong. It sounds to me like somebody was flat out to get him.''
SPOTTED AT WALGREEN
Latina Montgomery, an off-duty Lakeland police officer working a security detail at the Walgreen Drug Store at 311 E. Memorial Boulevard, called police about 3 a.m. to report that a white man was staggering in the store. She told police the man had a wet mark on the front of his pants and she believed it to be urine, according to a Lakeland police probable cause affidavit. (( Walgreen's is now the "crotch police?" ))
Montgomery said she thought the man intended to leave the premises in a vehicle, and might be impaired, according to the affidavit.
Officer Dennis Masser responded. He saw a 2006 Toyota Prius, with its lights off, pull out of the Massachusetts Avenue entrance to the drugstore. The car turned east on Memorial Boulevard, according to the affidavit.
``I observed that the vehicle drifted within its lane and then turned to travel north on North Lake Parker Avenue,'' Masser wrote in his report.
``The vehicle then crossed the diagonal yellow roadway markings on North Lake Parker Avenue, just north of the intersection denoting a turn lane'' into the First Baptist Church at the Mall's parking lot, Masser said.
Masser pulled the car over and said that the driver's eyes were bloodshot and watery and his speech was slow and slurred.
Lakeland police say they did not know whose car they were following and did not find out who Wilkinson was until after they had pulled him over and spoken to him, according to Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross.
``Wilkinson denied drinking but based on my observations of his person and his driving pattern, I had developed reasonable suspicion to believe he may be impaired,'' Masser wrote in his report. ``Wilkinson performed poorly on the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and the two alternate tests, finger to nose and Romberg balance.''
Masser contacted Sgt. Hans Lehman, a certified drug recognition expert, to evaluate Wilkinson. Lehman came to the Lakeland police station and conducted a drug influence evaluation on Wilkinson ``and impairment was observed,'' according to Masser's report.
Wilkinson agreed to a urine test, but the results might not be back for several weeks, Gross said.
After his arrest, Wilkinson was booked into the Polk County Jail in Bartow.
He posted $500 bond and was released at 11:40 a.m., about eight hours after he was arrested.
Outside the jail, his parents were waiting for him. Wilkinson, tired and rumpled in jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, paused to comment briefly before leaving.
He said that after putting up campaign signs, he went to Walgreen to buy water, and was headed to his parent's home when he was pulled over.
He said that he blinked when the officer shined a light in his eyes, and the officer took that as a sign of impairment.
``Their whole basis of everything was a flutter of my eyelids at 3:30 in the morning,'' Wilkinson said.
As for how this will affect his campaign for re-election, Wilkinson said, ``That's for the voters to decide.''
At 6 p.m. Saturday, Wilkinson and a group of 10 supporters gathered in front of the County Administration Building in Bartow and held a news conference to discuss the arrest.
``Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to clear up the misinformation about my arrest this morning,'' said Wilkinson, who was wearing a suit and tie.
Wilkinson said he has never used drugs, rarely drinks and never drinks and drives. ``I submitted to a drug test, which will come back negative,'' he said.
As for the off-duty police officer's report that Wilkinson had a wet mark on the front of his pants, Wilkinson said it had been raining all night and he was soaked.
``People have said that I'm all wet, but this time I really was,'' Wilkinson joked.
In an interview earlier Saturday, Shirah said he and Mike Landes met Wilkinson at Munn Park on Friday night at the city's ``First Friday'' entertainment program.
``I had promised him I would help him put up (campaign) signs because he didn't have a truck. So the three of us went to his mom and dad's near the First Baptist Church at the Mall and loaded up the (Shirah's) truck with signs and my post hole diggers,'' Shirah said.
``We started at the county line in Four Corners and got soaked head to toe on U.S. 27 in the rain,'' he said.
During the five to six hours they were working, they made one stop to buy something, Shirah said.
``We stopped at the 7-Eleven near I-4 on U.S. 27 and got 50 gallons of diesel, chocolate milk and some candy bars. We had worked down to Dundee, when we realized it was 2 o'clock in the morning so we drove back to my (wrecker service) office on Kathleen Road (near 10th Street). He was dead-dog tired after working those post hole diggers all night.''
Shirah's office is not far from the drugstore where Wilkinson was seen about 3 a.m. Shirah said they all were still wet, and he insisted that Wilkinson take off the wet shirt and put on a dry ``Shirah for School Board'' T- shirt before driving to his parent's home.
POLITCAL FALLOUT
In the past week, an earlier Wilkinson brush with the law became part of the campaign when Betty Hill's supporters circulated an e-mail showing Wilkinson in an orange jail jump suit after his arrest in 2002 for an altercation with his ex-wife. The battery charge was later dropped.
Hill was asked Saturday about Wilkinson's latest arrest.
``You've got to have a heart and be compassionate, but you also have to know that you have to have someone responsible who can run the county. And has to be straight thinking.''
Hill said if Wilkinson does have a problem, ``he needs to seek help.''
``As far as running county government, I think you really need to have clear thinking and make good decisions,'' Hill said. ``And I don't know what he has going on in his mind.
Charles E. Canady, a veteran political consultant, said it's hard to predict the impact.
``This is the type of a thing that any candidate doesn't want to happen this close to an election. Anything out of the ordinary is dangerous, but it is not always the kiss of death. It depends on the circumstances and the voters,'' he said.
``The closer to the elections, the more damaging because the person doesn't have time to clarify what might be the underlying causes,'' Canady said.
Whether it will turn his strongest supporters away from him or not remains to be seen, however.
``Right now what I see and hear is that he has hard-core support on his vote against the tax increase,'' Canady said. ``A lot of people vehemently opposed that tax (approved by the other four commissioners). So he has staunch supporters.
``Remember, Randy resonates with a lot of the very conservative voters. A lot of the positions he takes on the commission are very conservative positions,'' Canady said.
Al Bellotto, a semiretired rancher who has been a staunch supporter of Wilkinson, said, ``I'd have to know more details. But, certainly, I don't admire anyone that gets in that kind of position.
``I don't want to slam him. It's too bad if it has happened. Then, again, I don't need to add any more fuel to the fire.''
www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/BREAKING/60902003/0/FRONTPAGE
After his release Saturday morning from the Polk County Jail, Wilkinson, 53, insisted that he was neither drinking nor using drugs when he was pulled over. His blood-alcohol test came back at 0.000, bolstering his arugment.
``I'm not guilty of anything,'' Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson's arrest comes just three days before Tuesday's Republican primary election. He faces a strong challenge from Betty Hill of Lake Wales, who has raised questions about Wilkinson's previous behavior.
Police say they charged Wilkinson because his speech was slow and slurred, his eyes bloodshot and watery, and he performed poorly on three sobriety tests. (( Sobriety test are only 60-70% accurate ))
Wilkinson said he didn't do well on the tests because he was tired after putting up campaign signs with supporters, including School Board candidate Ricky Shirah.
Shirah told The Ledger he and Wilkinson put up campaign signs until early in the morning. He said he was with Wilkinson until a few minutes before his arrest.
``He left my office at 15 'til 3 and I swear on my father's grave he was totally sober. And I don't think you can buy alcohol after 2 a.m.,'' Shirah said. ``I am telling you, this is wrong. It sounds to me like somebody was flat out to get him.''
SPOTTED AT WALGREEN
Latina Montgomery, an off-duty Lakeland police officer working a security detail at the Walgreen Drug Store at 311 E. Memorial Boulevard, called police about 3 a.m. to report that a white man was staggering in the store. She told police the man had a wet mark on the front of his pants and she believed it to be urine, according to a Lakeland police probable cause affidavit. (( Walgreen's is now the "crotch police?" ))
Montgomery said she thought the man intended to leave the premises in a vehicle, and might be impaired, according to the affidavit.
Officer Dennis Masser responded. He saw a 2006 Toyota Prius, with its lights off, pull out of the Massachusetts Avenue entrance to the drugstore. The car turned east on Memorial Boulevard, according to the affidavit.
``I observed that the vehicle drifted within its lane and then turned to travel north on North Lake Parker Avenue,'' Masser wrote in his report.
``The vehicle then crossed the diagonal yellow roadway markings on North Lake Parker Avenue, just north of the intersection denoting a turn lane'' into the First Baptist Church at the Mall's parking lot, Masser said.
Masser pulled the car over and said that the driver's eyes were bloodshot and watery and his speech was slow and slurred.
Lakeland police say they did not know whose car they were following and did not find out who Wilkinson was until after they had pulled him over and spoken to him, according to Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross.
``Wilkinson denied drinking but based on my observations of his person and his driving pattern, I had developed reasonable suspicion to believe he may be impaired,'' Masser wrote in his report. ``Wilkinson performed poorly on the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and the two alternate tests, finger to nose and Romberg balance.''
Masser contacted Sgt. Hans Lehman, a certified drug recognition expert, to evaluate Wilkinson. Lehman came to the Lakeland police station and conducted a drug influence evaluation on Wilkinson ``and impairment was observed,'' according to Masser's report.
Wilkinson agreed to a urine test, but the results might not be back for several weeks, Gross said.
After his arrest, Wilkinson was booked into the Polk County Jail in Bartow.
He posted $500 bond and was released at 11:40 a.m., about eight hours after he was arrested.
Outside the jail, his parents were waiting for him. Wilkinson, tired and rumpled in jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, paused to comment briefly before leaving.
He said that after putting up campaign signs, he went to Walgreen to buy water, and was headed to his parent's home when he was pulled over.
He said that he blinked when the officer shined a light in his eyes, and the officer took that as a sign of impairment.
``Their whole basis of everything was a flutter of my eyelids at 3:30 in the morning,'' Wilkinson said.
As for how this will affect his campaign for re-election, Wilkinson said, ``That's for the voters to decide.''
At 6 p.m. Saturday, Wilkinson and a group of 10 supporters gathered in front of the County Administration Building in Bartow and held a news conference to discuss the arrest.
``Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to clear up the misinformation about my arrest this morning,'' said Wilkinson, who was wearing a suit and tie.
Wilkinson said he has never used drugs, rarely drinks and never drinks and drives. ``I submitted to a drug test, which will come back negative,'' he said.
As for the off-duty police officer's report that Wilkinson had a wet mark on the front of his pants, Wilkinson said it had been raining all night and he was soaked.
``People have said that I'm all wet, but this time I really was,'' Wilkinson joked.
In an interview earlier Saturday, Shirah said he and Mike Landes met Wilkinson at Munn Park on Friday night at the city's ``First Friday'' entertainment program.
``I had promised him I would help him put up (campaign) signs because he didn't have a truck. So the three of us went to his mom and dad's near the First Baptist Church at the Mall and loaded up the (Shirah's) truck with signs and my post hole diggers,'' Shirah said.
``We started at the county line in Four Corners and got soaked head to toe on U.S. 27 in the rain,'' he said.
During the five to six hours they were working, they made one stop to buy something, Shirah said.
``We stopped at the 7-Eleven near I-4 on U.S. 27 and got 50 gallons of diesel, chocolate milk and some candy bars. We had worked down to Dundee, when we realized it was 2 o'clock in the morning so we drove back to my (wrecker service) office on Kathleen Road (near 10th Street). He was dead-dog tired after working those post hole diggers all night.''
Shirah's office is not far from the drugstore where Wilkinson was seen about 3 a.m. Shirah said they all were still wet, and he insisted that Wilkinson take off the wet shirt and put on a dry ``Shirah for School Board'' T- shirt before driving to his parent's home.
POLITCAL FALLOUT
In the past week, an earlier Wilkinson brush with the law became part of the campaign when Betty Hill's supporters circulated an e-mail showing Wilkinson in an orange jail jump suit after his arrest in 2002 for an altercation with his ex-wife. The battery charge was later dropped.
Hill was asked Saturday about Wilkinson's latest arrest.
``You've got to have a heart and be compassionate, but you also have to know that you have to have someone responsible who can run the county. And has to be straight thinking.''
Hill said if Wilkinson does have a problem, ``he needs to seek help.''
``As far as running county government, I think you really need to have clear thinking and make good decisions,'' Hill said. ``And I don't know what he has going on in his mind.
Charles E. Canady, a veteran political consultant, said it's hard to predict the impact.
``This is the type of a thing that any candidate doesn't want to happen this close to an election. Anything out of the ordinary is dangerous, but it is not always the kiss of death. It depends on the circumstances and the voters,'' he said.
``The closer to the elections, the more damaging because the person doesn't have time to clarify what might be the underlying causes,'' Canady said.
Whether it will turn his strongest supporters away from him or not remains to be seen, however.
``Right now what I see and hear is that he has hard-core support on his vote against the tax increase,'' Canady said. ``A lot of people vehemently opposed that tax (approved by the other four commissioners). So he has staunch supporters.
``Remember, Randy resonates with a lot of the very conservative voters. A lot of the positions he takes on the commission are very conservative positions,'' Canady said.
Al Bellotto, a semiretired rancher who has been a staunch supporter of Wilkinson, said, ``I'd have to know more details. But, certainly, I don't admire anyone that gets in that kind of position.
``I don't want to slam him. It's too bad if it has happened. Then, again, I don't need to add any more fuel to the fire.''
www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/BREAKING/60902003/0/FRONTPAGE