You can’t write this stuff.
The scene, Portsmouth, Virginia. Mayor Kenny Wright is pulling out a parking garage near City Hall after a presumably long day of tending to government matters. Sheriff Bill Watson, going to City Hall on unrelated business sees the Mayor’s expired tags on his car and goes to issue a citation.
Then, all hell breaks loose!
The Mayor refuses to stop and exits the parking structure, it is unclear if he had to stop at a gate to swipe his parking pass or something like that. Sheriff Watson then proceeds to chase him through the downtown area of Portsmouth. Several police units join in the pursuit before the Mayor is stopped.
Once stopped and asked about license and registration, Mayor Wright wanted nothing to do with the matter, saying "Sheriff, get away from me.”
No one runs from the law Mr. Mayor!
After the matter, Sheriff Watson seemed dumbfounded describing the situation, “He told me to get away from him. Really? He's going to jail. He was on the phone calling the police chief trying to do something about me stopping him.”
Poetic justice, but also mercy.
Mayor Wright still got that citation from the Sheriff, but Sheriff Watson chose not to charge him with evasion. “He’s got to fall under the same law as any other citizen,” Watson said.
More on this Virginia craziness can be found here.
Image Credit: Flickr User Hatchski, https://flic.kr/p/8n1EVf via (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)