Facebook / Marc Whyte Campaign
A special City Council meeting to decide whether to censure District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte is scheduled for Jan. 14.
Attorney Shannon Locke of the Locke Law Group, who previously warned the public about jumping to conclusions about Whyte's arrest, told the Current he "didn't see a whole lot that indicated intoxication" in the footage, which was released Thursday.
Locke's comments echo those of former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood and criminal defense attorney R.C. Pate, who both told News4SA the footage raises questions about Whyte's guilt. Whyte's attorney was unavailable Thursday for comment on the case.
"He does well, he answers well, there's not slurred speech that I can tell, detect, and even his driving facts don't comport with the standardized field sobriety test to pull someone over for intoxicated driving," LaHood told News4SA.
Whyte was arrested Dec. 29 on allegations he drive while intoxicated. San Antonio police officer D. McCroy pulled Whyte over after witnessing the councilman's Chevy Malibu cruising down Loop 410 near the airport at 80 mph in a 65 mph zone. Whyte also switched lanes without using his turn signal, according to the police report.
During the 20-minute video, Whyte performs an array of field sobriety tests, including walking nine steps heel to toe, counting backward from 67 to 42 and repeating the alphabet from C to S.
Locke told the Current that Whyte appears to have passed the tests. However, someone's ability to pass field sobriety tests doesn't matter during the DWI investigation, the attorney said, especially involving a member of the DWI task force — a group of which the arresting officer is a member.
DWI task force members are incentivized to make DWI arrests, which can result in overtime pay, according to Locke.
"It really paints a picture of just how easy it is to be arrested for DWI," Locke said. "If you have consumed alcohol and are driving at night and have a minor traffic infraction, anybody in San Antonio is going to find themselves in that situation where they're being investigated."
The attorney added: "The officer is going to make — on very limited information — an arrest decision, and then everybody will just assume that you are drunk driving, and that's the real warning here."
Mayor Ron Nirenberg stripped Whyte of his council committee assignments hours before SAPD publicly released its body-cam footage of the address.
Nirenberg press spokesman Bruce Davidson didn't respond to the Current's request for comment regarding whether the mayor was able to view the footage before reprimanding Whyte.
At Nirenberg's request, a special city council meeting to discuss whether to censure Whyte is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 14.
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