Charleston City Councilman Harry Griffin was arrested in May and charged with driving under the influence. But those charges were recently dropped when the Berkeley County sheriff’s deputy who arrested him resigned from his job, and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy Jeremy Baker, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to the Post and Courier.
The former deputy, Brandon Vega, had been with the Sheriff’s Office for about two years before turning in his badge last week. The resignation was not related to the DUI case, according to Baker.
“He’s just wanting to get out of law enforcement,” Baker said.
On May 29, Vega and other deputies were conducting a sobriety checkpoint on County Line Road in the Cross area of Berkeley County. Councilman Griffin was pulled over after “a strong odor of alcohol” was coming from his car, according to Berkeley County court records.
When initially asked how much alcohol he had had to drink, the sheriff’s office reported that Griffin said “none.” Griffin then changed his answer to “only one” after Vega said he smelled alcohol. Vega noted in his report that Griffin had bloodshot, glassy eyes.
Griffin was charged with driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of less than 0.10 percent.
Griffin launched his re-election campaign for his District 10 seat in March.
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