North Carolina Judge Timothy Smith was charged last week with driving while impaired after state troopers pulled him over for driving erratically.
But Smith said he obtained an independent blood test after his arrest which proved he was not impaired.
State troopers, meanwhile, say they are still waiting for the results of their own blood test which they say will prove he was impaired on something other than alcohol, according to WITN.
In their first public statement about the arrest, the Committee to Elect Tim Smith says the judge had just completed criminal court in Trenton and was on his way home when stopped by law enforcement. It says the judge consented to a blood test for the Highway Patrol, and immediately after submitted to an independent analysis by a drug recognition expert who concluded the judge wasn’t impaired.
Judge Smith is a district court judge in the following North Carolina counties: Duplin, Jones, Onslow, and Sampson.
Smith was arrested on January 24 around 2 p.m. Smith was initially stopped by a deputy with the Jones County Sheriff’s Office for alleged erratic driving, WITN News reports.
Troopers did a standard impaired driver investigation, which includes a roadside sobriety test.
It was determined Smith was allegedly impaired by a substance other than alcohol. The type of substance is unknown until results of blood work comes back.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol says:
“A deputy driving behind a car driving erratically initiated a traffic stop; they had reason to believe the driver may be impaired and requested the Highway Patrol’s assistance.”
Smith was taken before the magistrate in Jones County and released to the custody of a family member. A court date of April 3 has been set for Smith’s misdemeanor DWI charge.
Smith was appointed as judge by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in April 2019.
