Watch dashcam video of Congressman Cawthorn’s March traffic stop in NC
Dashcam footage released Tuesday shows U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina getting pulled over in a traffic stop and being asked to surrender his license.
The traffic stop happened in Cleveland County, North Carolina, March 3, 2022. A N.C. Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Cawthorn on U.S. 74 Business and charged him with driving while his license was revoked, a misdemeanor.
At the request of a consortium of newsrooms, a state judge in Cleveland County county approved the release of the video Tuesday.
Cleveland County District Attorney Mike Miller, a Republican, opposed the move out of concern that pretrial publicity could complicate the pending case, according to a court memorandum filed by news organizations.
What video of Cawthorn’s traffic stop shows
Two videos with shaky audio were released Tuesday, each about 20 minutes long. One shows the trooper’s perspective looking forward while the other shows the trooper’s empty passenger seat.
The trooper’s dashboard camera shows his patrol vehicle following a pick-up truck around 10:26 p.m. After a few minutes, the truck is shown twice veering partially left of center and the trooper pulls over the truck. The trooper informs the driver — Cawthorn — that he was pulled over for expired tags. Cawthorn apologizes.
The trooper goes to his patrol car to run Cawthorn’s license. When he returns to Cawthorn’s side of the truck, he tells him his license has been revoked. Cawthorn replies: “Is that so?”
With Cawthorn unable to drive any further, a woman gets out of the passenger-side door, puts on high heels and helps the officer retrieve Cawthorn’s wheelchair from the bed of the truck.
Cawthorn wheels himself over to the passenger side of the vehicle, pausing briefly to shake the trooper’s hand. The woman is seen lifting the wheelchair into the back of the truck as the trooper drives away.
Knox told McClatchy last month that he couldn’t comment on why Cawthorn’s license had been revoked because that information is protected under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
Cawthorn is scheduled to appear in court on May 6 in Shelby, McClatchy reported previously.
Cawthorn, a 26-year-old first-term Republican, is seeking reelection in District 11, in far western North Carolina. He faces seven challenges in the May 17 primary.
Court records show this is the second time Cawthorn has been issued the charge of driving with a revoked license. The first, in 2017, was later dismissed.
He has had two additional charges of speeding, both brought by the Highway Patrol, in the past six months.
An Oct. 18, 2021, incident occurred in Buncombe County, when a trooper charged Cawthorn with speeding while he was driving in a white 2009 Dodge passenger vehicle on Interstate 40 near mile marker 59. Knox said Cawthorn traveled 89 mph in a 65 mph zone. The case was disposed March 4, and Cawthorn pleaded guilty to improper equipment and paid a fine of $25.
On Jan. 8, Cawthorn was pulled over in the same vehicle after a trooper said he was traveling 87 mph in a 70 mph zone on U.S. 74 in Polk County. The court date is June 2.
McClatchy DC Correspondent Danielle Battaglia contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 12:55 AM with the headline "Watch dashcam video of Congressman Cawthorn’s March traffic stop in NC."