By MEG KINNARD and SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press Writers
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has been stopped at least twice in the past four months for speeding--once for driving 101 mph in a 70 mph zone--without being ticketed.
Video recordings of the stops and audio recordings of radio exchanges were obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Bauer’s office had no immediate comment.
On Feb. 25, Bauer was stopped on Interstate 77 for driving over 100 mph in his state-issued car. Video taken by a camera mounted in the patrol car shows the trooper asking for identification.
When the trooper asked the lieutenant governor for his name, Bauer identified himself as “SC Two.”
Public Safety Director James Schweitzer said Tuesday the trooper understood that to mean Bauer was the lieutenant governor.
On Dec. 26, another trooper gave Bauer a warning for going 77 or 78 mph in a 65 mph zone at the wheel of a BMW, Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said.
Schweitzer would not say whether either trooper would be disciplined.
In 2003, an officer who stopped Bauer for driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone drew his gun when the lieutenant governor got out of his car and approached the officer.
Bauer was elected in 2002 and is up for re-election this fall but has not yet filed as a candidate.