Pensacola TV station WEAR-TV last night aired a video of the January drunk driving arrest of Escambia County school superintendent Jim Paul. The edited version was taken from a longer 38-minute video of the entire episode released yesterday by the Pinellas County sheriff's office.
The longer video would make a great instructional film for the classroom. It shows all the stages of a drunk driving arrest, from the moment two deputies spot Jim Paul's car weaving side-to-side in one lane of traffic along a straight highway, through the field sobriety tests which he flunked, to the frisking of the suspect and his ultimate handcuffing.
One positive thing may be said about all who were involved: both both the deputies and Mr. Paul were exceedingly polite throughout.
WEAR's edited broadcast tape can be seen here. The full 38-minute Pinellas County video is here.
Two brief moments in the longer video caught our attention. In one, the arrest video suddenly is interrupted by a clip of some football game. Somebody, somewhere, needs to buy some new blank videotapes.
In the other, before Jim Paul takes - and flunks -- the field sobriety tests, he's asked when he last had any sleep and how much he got. Check what he told the deputy -- and then compare it to the story Mr. Paul has been peddling back here at home:
Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul says he was trying to sleep off two glasses of wine in the parking lot of a Tampa casino before his arrest at 3:30 a.m. Thursday on a DUI charge.Well, okay. Maybe he misspoke to the deputy about when he last had any sleep. That's understandable. After all, he was probably drunk.
Paul said he was dozing in his rental car in the Seminole Hard Rock Casino parking lot when a drunk knocked on his window, prompting the superintendent to drive away.
A more or less "complete" video of the arrest is now available for watching here.
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