Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507250025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: AMELIA COURT HOUSE LENGTH: Medium
Sheriff Jimmy Weaver confirmed the investigation was taking place but said it is politically motivated. State police investigators visited his office last week and are conducting interviews, he said.
``I've been cooperating in the whole thing. It's just a fact-finding endeavor at this point,'' he said.
The state police had no comment. Commonwealth's Attorney Joe Humphreys could not be reached.
Weaver said that a deputy stopped a 17-year-old woman and gave her a field sobriety test early this year. The young woman, whose name was not released, took a breathalyzer test that showed her blood-alcohol content to be below the level defined as legally drunk in Virginia, he said.
The deputy still charged her with driving while impaired but later changed his mind and wanted to drop the charge, according to the sheriff.
The next day Weaver found a packet of papers from the case on his desk and, without looking at the papers, shredded them as he held a casual conversation with a dispatcher, the sheriff said.
"It was just a situation where an officer made a request and I honored the request," he said.
Weaver said if a warrant was in the packet, he was unaware of it. Had he known, he said, he would not have shredded the warrant and the case would have gone to court.
Weaver is facing two challengers as he seeks a third four-year term as sheriff. He said the case is being brought up only to give him a black eye in the campaign.
"I invite you or anybody else to follow my career. I've always had a reputation for being fair, period," he said.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.