Posted on 09/10/2007 1:12:00 PM PDT by SmithL
A heavily intoxicated State Rep. Rob Briley, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, fled the scene of an accident in DeKalb County on Saturday afternoon, then led police in Wilson County on a 100-mile-an-hour chase before finally stopping, according to police reports and court documents.
The Nashville Democrat was arrested at gunpoint after stopping his SUV in the middle of the road and is alleged to have kicked the window of a patrol car while in custody.
Briley, 40, a lawyer, was booked at the Wilson County jail shortly before 6 p.m. on charges of DUI, evading arrest and violation of the implied consent law.
Naifeh said today that Briley suffers from alcoholism, was in treatment last fall and is preparing to enter treatment again. “I will do everything I possibly can to help Rob Briley down the road to recovery,” he said.
House rules require that a legislator indicted on felony charges be removed from leadership positions. Briley is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, but the charges he faces are misdemeanors.
In cases of misdemeanors, it is up to Naifeh to decide whether Briley will lose a leadership position. Naifeh, speaking to reporters this afternoon, said he will wait until more information is available — and until he has talked with Briley following rehabilitation treatment — to make any decision on the Nashville lawmaker’s status.
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that Briley should resign from the Legislature. A similar statement was issued by state Republican Chairman Robin Smith.
Says Casada: “As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I submit that Rep. Briley is held to an even higher standard as his committee is directly responsible for preventing this type of crime. As an attorney, he knows full well that his actions were a blatant violation of the law and were not fitting for a state representative. His district deserves better. Tennessee deserves better.”
Naifeh said he was aware of “naysayers” who were attempting to turn Briley’s situation to partisan advantage.
“I think that’s pretty lowlife. I have absolutely no use for those people,” said Naifeh.
According to warrants filed in Wilson County Sessions Court, Briley was clocked at 72 mph in a 45-mph zone of Sparta Pike.
Watertown Police Department Officer Ricky Lucy fell in behind the speeding Nissan SUV and turned on his blue lights and siren.
Briley glanced back, then sped up, reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, according to the arrest report filed by Lucy.
When Briley finally stopped in the middle of the road, Lucy and another officer approached the vehicle with guns drawn.
Briley got out of the vehicle with his hands raised, but then went back to the SUV and drank from a blue plastic cup, Lucy’s report stated.
Briley “had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage … also had red watery eyes,” failed a field sobriety test and appeared to be in a “high level of intoxication,” according to the warrants signed by Lucy.
Briley complained to the arresting officers of injuries to his hand and elbow and said he had been taking anti-depressant medicine that occasionally made him dizzy.
Lucy said in his report that he began to give Briley field sobriety tests but that Briley was so unstable on his feet that “I felt any further (testing) would be dangerous.”
An empty bottle of Maker’s Mark and bottles of medication were found inside the vehicle, according to the report.
In connection with a traffic accident that occurred earlier in DeKalb County, Briley has been cited by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for leaving the scene of an accident, following too closely and failure to give notice of an accident, THP spokesman Mike Browning confirmed today.
In that accident, a 2005 Nissan SUV hit the rear end of a pickup truck on Highway 70 in Dowell Town.
Witnesses in the pickup truck told troopers that the SUV then made a U-turn and left the scene, Browning said.
There were no injuries. The final report of that accident was not immediately available.
Briley was released to the custody of his mother, GeAnne Briley, shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday. He did not have to post bond. A court date is set for Oct. 31 at 9 a.m. in Wilson County Sessions Court.
He was rearrested today on a charge of vandalism in connection with an estimated $1,500 damage caused when he allegedly kicked the patrol car window.
Briley, grandson of the late Nashville Mayor Beverly Briley, is one of the Legislature’s most powerful members. Besides chairing the Judiciary Committee, which deals with all bills involving the criminal justice system, he is a member of the House Ethics Committee and played a central role in shaping ethics legislation that was enacted by the General Assembly last year.
The judiciary committee is scheduled to review a proposal to overhaul of the state’s drunken-driving laws next year. Briley has asked the sponsors of several DUI-related proposals to delay their bills in lieu of a comprehensive DUI bill.
Briley is also a member of the powerful House Finance Committee, which rules on all bills that involve spending or taxes. This year, he sponsored 67 bills — 10 of which became law.
Democrat culture of corruption BUMP!
A heavily intoxicated State Rep. Rob Briley, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, fled the scene of an accident in DeKalb County on Saturday afternoon, then led police in Wilson County on a 100-mile-an-hour chase before finally stopping, according to police reports and court documents.Disgusting and pathetic...absolutely pathetic!The Nashville Democrat was arrested at gunpoint....
Don’t worry for UT fans. Pearl will continue his mastery of Donovan.
Allow me to add Bill Boner to the list.
It is a very nice area. The growth is unreal,land prices have gone to prices where farms are almost gone. I`m not selling my farm yet.
Selling my cows and calves tho because of this terrrible drought
They`ve almost rebuilt Vol State after the F-4 last yr.
Around here, fleeing an officer and the 100 mark are both felonies. For the little people, anyway.
I wish. It won't happen though because he has triple liberal immunity:
He's a Democrat + he's a lawyer + he has an addiction = untouchable.
I'm betting he won't even lose his chairmanship of the judiciary committee after his "rehab" is over. It's pathetic.
Good thing he wasn’t caught “toe tapping” in a restroom or he’b be in big trouble
Who am I kidding he’s a Democratr, He’s bulletproof.../sigh
http://www.floppingaces.net/2007/09/13/another-democrat-thrown-in-jai/
Some of words in the video that Briley says to the police can’t be posted here (so be warned), but here is an excerpt from Flopping Aces.
video of the arrest of House Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley over the weekend shows the Nashville Democrat alternately berating police and breaking down in sobs.
At one point a profane Briley asked officers to take him out to the woods and shoot him in the head.
~~~
Briley called the officer a Nazi and a brownshirt, then sang the first line of “Springtime For Hitler” from the Mel Brooks movie and musical “The Producers.”
Mary Jo Kopechne unavailable for comment...
We need to kick butt for a change. Damn this namby pamby BS pisses me off!
How ahhhh dare you attack a fellow democrat that might have enjoyed a sip of sherry? I have ahhhhhhhh been known to take a sip now and again and then crash into a parked car. In fact, crashing into parked cars is a long democrtic tradition. Now, I ahhhhh need to get back to working for working american families!
I agree. This guy needs to be on the ass end of a serious ass kicking!
Frankly...this is a simple episode. You “nifong” the guy. Simply type up a one-page letter to the state bar association...course, I am assuming he is a lawyer...but I’m pretty sure he is. You request an immediate committee meeting, and then you make a copy of the letter and send it to seven papers in the state. Your accusation? Running from the police and behaving in a manner unacceptable to the state bar association. You demand he be revoked. Once in the public eye...the bar association is stuck...they have to react to this and probably will “nifong” him within 60 days.
In this case...he certainly can’t be on the state judical committee if his license has been revoked. So he can play any game he wants...except practice law or pretend to call himself a licensed lawyer in the state. You make it real easy to run the next election campaign...by running a Republican platform that disbarment really stains the honesty and integrity of the guy. He loses 30 percent of his normal base....and is done. Cost to you? Just a stamp and one hour of writing a simple letter to the state bar.
EMK established the precedent in 1969: A Democrat who flees the scene of an accident shall not resign. The Republicans took the precedent glum as it is.
Hey it’s not like he got drunk with some girl in his SUV and parked it off a bridge.... {/sarcasm...
Somehow I just knew that drugs were involved as well because of the high-speed chase and kicking the window out of a cruiser. Didn't sound like merely a drunken haze.
Wow, I'm shocked, the "D" made it by the third paragraph
Of course, if it was a republican, it would've been in the title
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