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Mich. sheriff accused of drunken driving tried to avoid arrest

Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson is heard on video asking that he not be arrested. “Jesus Christ, I’m a sheriff,” he says.

By Associated Press

KALKASKA, Mich. — A police report and bodycam video show that a Michigan sheriff accused of drunken driving asked a deputy not to arrest him.

Television station WJRT obtained bodycam video from the Nov. 16 arrest of Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson, who later pleaded guilty to driving while impaired.

Stephenson is heard on the video asking that he not be arrested. He says, “Jesus Christ, I’m a sheriff.”

Stephenson was suspected of drunken driving after leaving a deer hunting camp in Kalkaska County. A breath test revealed a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

The video shows a deputy knocking on Stephenson’s window and waking him up while his vehicle was parked along the side of a road. The deputy tells Stephenson: “Someone thought you were dead over here.”

Stephenson later issued a public apology for his “poor choice.”

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Information from: WJRT-TV, http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt