Fb / Marc Whyte Marketing campaign
A particular Metropolis Council assembly to determine whether or not to censure District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte is scheduled for Jan. 14.
After viewing body-cam footage of District 10 Metropolis Councilman Marc Whyte’s current DWI arrest, three San Antonio lawyer argue he has a powerful authorized protection.
Lawyer Shannon Locke of the Locke Regulation Group, who beforehand warned the general public about leaping to conclusions about Whyte’s arrest, advised the Present he “did not see a complete lot that indicated intoxication” within the footage, which was launched Thursday.
Locke’s feedback echo these of former Bexar County District Lawyer Nico LaHood and legal protection lawyer R.C. Pate, who each advised News4SA the footage raises questions on Whyte’s guilt. Whyte’s lawyer was unavailable Thursday for touch upon the case.
“He does properly, he solutions properly, there’s not slurred speech that I can inform, detect, and even his driving info do not comport with the standardized discipline sobriety take a look at to drag somebody over for intoxicated driving,” LaHood advised News4SA.
Whyte was arrested Dec. 29 on allegations he drive whereas intoxicated. San Antonio police officer D. McCroy pulled Whyte over after witnessing the councilman’s Chevy Malibu cruising down Loop 410 close to the airport at 80 mph in a 65 mph zone. Whyte additionally switched lanes with out utilizing his flip sign, in response to the police report.
In the course of the 20-minute video, Whyte performs an array of discipline sobriety assessments, together with strolling 9 steps heel to toe, counting backward from 67 to 42 and repeating the alphabet from C to S.
Locke advised the Present that Whyte seems to have handed the assessments. Nonetheless, somebody’s means to move discipline sobriety assessments does not matter through the DWI investigation, the lawyer mentioned, particularly involving a member of the DWI activity drive — a gaggle of which the arresting officer is a member.
DWI activity drive members are incentivized to make DWI arrests, which can lead to extra time pay, in response to Locke.
“It actually paints an image of simply how simple it’s to be arrested for DWI,” Locke mentioned. “In case you have consumed alcohol and are driving at night time and have a minor visitors infraction, anyone in San Antonio goes to seek out themselves in that state of affairs the place they’re being investigated.”
The lawyer added: “The officer goes to make — on very restricted data — an arrest resolution, after which all people will simply assume that you’re drunk driving, and that is the actual warning right here.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg stripped Whyte of his council committee assignments hours earlier than SAPD publicly launched its body-cam footage of the tackle.
Nirenberg press spokesman Bruce Davidson did not reply to the Present’s request for remark relating to whether or not the mayor was in a position to view the footage earlier than reprimanding Whyte.
At Nirenberg’s request, a particular metropolis council assembly to debate whether or not to censure Whyte is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 14.
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