Vance sheriff's daughter drops DWI appeal

Henderson, N.C. — The daughter of Vance County Sheriff Peter White has dropped her appeal of a drunken driving conviction resulting from an Easter Sunday traffic stop last year.

Shahita White, 34, pleaded guilty in August to driving while impaired but immediately appealed the case to Superior Court so she could have a jury trial.

With the appeal over, the original sentence of 12 months on unsupervised probation and a $200 fine was imposed. She also will have to undergo an alcohol assessment and perform community service.

Authorities charged Shahita White in July with DWI, more than three months after deputies stopped her near Henderson when drivers called 911 to report a sport utility vehicle swerving through traffic as it headed the wrong way on U.S. Highway 1. Callers said the driver appeared to be drunk.

Deputies who had stopped her called radio dispatchers, saying Shahita White was "blistered" and asking that the sheriff be notified. He later picked up his daughter up from the scene, and she was charged with reckless driving.

She pleaded guilty in May to the reckless driving charge and was given a 30-day suspended sentence and placed on unsupervised probation for a year.

Vance County District Attorney Sam Currin initially said he could not pursue drunken-driving charges against her because no roadside sobriety test had been administered.

Later, however, he asked the State Bureau of Investigation review the case after WRAL News uncovered memos filed after the March 23 traffic stop by two Henderson police officers who participated in it.

The officers wrote that Shahita White slapped a deputy's arm and refused to cooperate with a second sobriety test after a first one failed to register a reading. They described her as smelling of alcohol, being unsteady on her feet, slurring her speech and having red, glassy eyes.

The SUV had damage on the driver's side, the officers also noted.

Sheriff White has denied interfering in the initial investigation and has maintained that his deputies handled the traffic stop properly.

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Sheriff White has denied interfering in the initial investigation and has maintained that his deputies handled the traffic stop properly.

Yeah, right. The Deputy she slapped would have laid her out had she not been the Sheriff's daughter. She could have gotten by with it since she is half Shanita White's size and twice as tough, and female.

anonemoose
March 17, 2009 9:34 p.m.

"Common sense I still say that if the news had not be so hard against her then she would have walked. It would have been buried from the start. You know that LEO's watch out for each other and we know that."

Not so much that LEO's look out for each other, but the deputies probably knew they would have been fired by her daddy for messing with his baby girl, and of course, been accused of being racists. Like the Supreme Court says, what would a reasonable law enforcement officer have done in the same situation? A reasonable LEO wouldn't have shown up at the scene to rescue baby girl, they would have let the officers do what they needed to do. Vance County citizens just need to remember all of this during the next election and vote for a Sheriff who displays great integrity and ethical values.

sickofstupidpeople
March 17, 2009 9:34 p.m.

You have to remember that the District Attorney was going to drop the case that is until the news became public. Folks, The DA was just saving his own skin...I was tempted to use a more appropriate word than skin, but I am afraid WRAL would not have approved it.

airbornemonty
March 17, 2009 8:31 p.m.

FINALLY! TRUE JUSTICE. ALL WE ASK FOR IS TO BE TREATED EQUALLY. YOU BROKE THE LAW, JUST OWN UP TO IT.