South Carolina State Representative, Bakari Sellers, revealed that he was facing DUI charges after being pulled over for drunk driving in fall of 2012. Sellers was driving home after a University of South Carolina football game when he was stopped by police who saw him fail to use his turn signal and drift into other lanes. After police pulled him over, they asked him to take a Datamaster test, which he refused. If you refuse the Datamaster test in South Carolina, then your license is automatically suspended for 6 months.
Police then asked Sellers to get out the car and perform field sobriety tests, which he agreed to do. During their exchange, Sellers allegedly admitted to having something to drink at the football game. He told the officers that he was just trying to get home, but he was tired from being up all day. The officers administered the horizontal nystagmus, the one leg stand, and the walk and turn tests, which are the three standard field sobriety tests.
After the officers determined that he had failed the sobriety tests, he was taken into custody and later freed on a $1000 bond. The young legislator has stated that this is his first DUI charge, though he has had previous license suspension for failing to pay past traffic tickets. He has requested a trial by jury. Sellers was still in law school back in 2006 when he first won office at age 22. This makes him the second youngest member to be elected to a state office.
If you have been charged with DUI, then you could be facing serious penalties such as imprisonment, fines, and license suspension. To ensure that you have a competent Columbia DUI attorney that can protect your rights, contact The Laubshire Law Firm, LLC for your free case evaluation!
