Dash camera video released in Atlantic Beach mayor’s DUI arrest

Conway police have released the dash camera video showing Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce Sturdivant’s arrest on Sunday.

The video shows an officer conducting several field sobriety tests and driving Sturdivant to J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

The mayor was charged late Sunday with driving under the influence after Conway police officers said she failed those tests and they saw her driving erratically on city streets.

Sturdivant is set to appear in court Feb. 8 on that charge.

In the video, Sturdivant tells the officers they are conspiring against her because of her position in the town of Atlantic Beach.

“I have done nothing. I came from church. I don’t even drink,” Sturdivant said. “You know I’m the mayor of Atlantic Beach, that’s why you’re doing this.”

Sturdivant was released from jail on a $1,022 personal recognizance bond.

According to the Conway police report, the mayor was stopped because she was starting and stopping her sport utility vehicle at several locations on city streets. On two occasions, Sturdivant’s vehicle remained stopped at traffic lights when they turned green, officers reported.

An officer turned on his vehicle’s blue lights in an attempt to stop Sturdivant, but she kept driving and finally stopped on the Main Street bridge.

An officer told Pierce she was pulled because she “stopped at two green lights and was straddling the dotted line,” the report shows.

The officer reported that Sturdivant’s eyes appeared to be glassy.

The officer reported that during the test she

swayed, used her arms for balance, and put her foot down many times, when the test called for her to lift a foot.

Sturdivant was arrested for driving under the influence and handcuffed.

Officers found three medications in her purse – Flexeril, Toradol and Percocet.

Police said Sturdivant’s blood alcohol registered at 0.0 at the police station.

Officers asked for a urine sample from Sturdivant, but she refused after learning she could not keep the sample. Officers told her that if she gave a sample at Conway Hospital, the urine would be sent to a lab.

• Sturdivant is currently on probation after being found guilty July 13 of resisting arrest.

• She also was ordered to serve 18 months on probation for an incident on Christmas Day 2007. Circuit Court Judge Steven John sentenced Sturdivant to a year in prison, but suspended that sentence to 18 months probation and gave her credit for the one day she served in jail following her arrest in the 2007 incident.

In that case, Sturdivant defended herself in a two-day trial.

Sturdivant has a string of arrests and other troubles beginning with the 2007 incident.

Her first attorney was disbarred and is in prison for trying to have a former law partner killed.

Sturdivant fired her second attorney.

• In July, the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office dismissed a “leaving the scene of an accident with property damage” charge that stemmed from an April 2009 hit-and-run incident. Then Gov. Mark Sanford removed Sturdivant from office after she was indicted by an Horry County grand jury in October 2009 on that charge.

• In March 2010, a Marion County judge dismissed a September 2009 driving under the influence charge after officials said the breathalyzer came back 0.0 and the urine test came back clean and the only evidence was from a witness that saw Pierce driving recklessly.

• In January 2010, Pierce was arrested on a charge of trespassing at Atlantic Beach’s town hall after a dispute with staff members. She later filed suit stating the arrest was intended to prevent her from uncovering a larger conspiracy. The charge was dismissed.