There are lots of people who get arrested for DWI, so the dash-cam footage of state rep. Bobby Badon (D-Carencro) getting pinched the Baton Rouge Advocate had today doesn’t make him the worst guy in the world.
But it’s pretty rough to watch anyway. For a couple of reasons.
First, you’ve got to feel for Badon. Getting busted for DWI is sphincter-puckering enough. Getting busted for DWI when you’re an elected official is a little bit worse. On top of the hassles and the court appearances and so on, you get to have your own little Anthony Weiner boomlet to boot. He might be a little loaded in this video, but he’s plenty sober enough to recognize he’s got a problem. And he starts panicking a little.
Second, the reason he’s panicking is that his attempts to big-boy the state trooper aren’t working. And that’s the other piece of this which makes it hard to watch. Notice all the name-dropping Rep. Badon does and the subtle hints about people he can call before he suggests that maybe “we can handle this diplomatically.”
Ugh. Probably would have been better to just take your medicine rather than use your stroke to bargain your way out. Particularly since it sure didn’t work.
This happened in January of last year.
But there’s good news for Badon; namely, that he beat the case. Sez the Advocate…
During the traffic stop, state Rep. Bobby Badon, D-Carencro, was cited for an illegal left turn and subsequently DWI. The courts, however, recently deemed the left turn permissible and thus the evidence of the DWI inadmissable. Further charges against Badon are not expected to be pursued. He has since apologized.
Seems like a good DWI lawyer is a lot more useful than some name-droppin’ to a state trooper. Apparently he’d gotten pinched for DWI back in 1995, too, but if you can avoid getting busted for DWI twice in 10 years they drop the first one off your record. Or something like that. So he’s good. Legally, that is.
But the voters may not be as lenient as the judge was come this fall.
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