This past July 4th, Ashton Parker was staying at a friends house on the Savannah River in the Water’s Edge neighborhood across from the SRP Ballpark.
An avid boater, Parker had his 21 foot Caravelle tied to the dock. After dark, he offered to take his buddies out on the water to watch the fireworks. Parker had not been drinking.
At 9:40 PM a South Carolina Game Warden initiated a stop in the water, pulling alongside Parkers boat.
The Game Warden stated he had observed Parker “Plowing” between anchored vessels in the water.
The rest of the story is told by the transcripts of Parker’s hearing July 30th, 2019 in Aiken County Magistrate Court. Ashton Parker’s comments on the hearing’s transcripts are interjected.
The Court: Mr. Parker you’ve got actually three charges, boating under the influence, negligent boat operation, and a registration violation under the summons issued 847313.
Ashton Parker: My anger lies with the South Carolina DNR. It’s not just the individuals. Those individuals were taught something, OK? They were taught something along the way in their training or what they get praised for: making those kinds of decisions or have never had any repercussions for doing that sort of stuff before.
Officer Boulware: South Carolina Department of Natural Resources: On July 4th, at approximately 9:40, I was on boat patrol in the Savannah River in the North Augusta area, which is in Aiken County, observed a bowrider. There were several boats anchored in the river on the South Carolina side. I observed a bowrider come through the area of those anchored boats at a speed producing a wake.
Parker: It’s referred to as plowing. So there were some boats. All this is in the police report by the way. You have some boats, you can go no speed, a slight idle, and then a slightly higher idle will produce a little bit of a wake and it’s referred to as plowing. It’s not on plane, you’re tipping your nose up and you’re going at a high idle. You’re going in between the boats. It wasn’t unsafe. Nothing to take me to jail for.
Parker: I was like “Oh my God. Is this really happening and I’m sober? How is this possible? Me being the designated driver and taking one for the team and Oh my God, I’m going to jail. You know? Is this really happening? How can this be happening?
Parker: There were 1,000 other people out there that were probably smashed, and I was one of the few that wasn’t drinking and I get thrown in jail.
Officer Boulware: I gave him horizontal gaze nystagmus, finger-to-nose test, palm pat test, and hand coordination test. He failed horizontal gaze nystagmus, finger-to-nose, and hand coordination, but he did do palm pat correctly.
Parker: I also have a lot of experience on that boat as well. I was plowing through the anchored boats, they all had their runtime lights on, I could see all of them.
Officer Boulware: He was unable to provide that night a valid proof of the boat registration.
Parker: I was on the cover of the Jail Report. I mean it sucked. Oh God, I mean it didn’t take long. Folks were texting me, sending me emails, taking pictures of it, all that stuff.
Jim Huff, Attorney representing Ashton Parker: When you encountered Mr. Parker he showed you when you asked about registration of his Georgia boat he informed you that the registration form, the paper form, had been stolen is that correct?
Officer Boulware: That is correct.
Jim Huff: And, but he was able to show you that he had paid for a replacement registration “a boat duplicate registration,” right?
Officer Boulware: Yes, sir.
Jim Huff: He showed you that on his phone, I believe.
Officer Boulware: Correct.
The Court: Okay, and the boat registration was that subsequently remedied or —
The State: At a later date his attorney did provide me that there was after —
The Court: That was prior to the – he had it done prior to your stopping him, just didn’t have it with him?
The State: Correct. He did not have adequate proof that night.
The Court: Okay, but actually had it. Just didn’t have it with him.
The State: Correct.
Parker: At the end of the day I got put in jail overnight and got put on Admin leave at work, I’m an operations manager at a large plant. That’s a big deal. Not saying I’m important or anything, but my face is well known out here, and to get thrown in jail for nothing is just crazy.
Metro Spirit: Parker had two interviews lined up for a lateral promotion at work. Due to his arrest and admin leave, he was passed over for the opportunity.
The Court: The no boat registration under summons 847314, motion granted of not guilty.
Ashton Parker: I didn’t smart off to the Game Warden during the process. I got pulled over on the boat. Hadn’t been drinking. Did a safety check. Took a field sobriety test, failed that, so he said.
Then, I asked to blow in the field machine and he said, “we don’t carry those.” By that time, I was in cuffs. Leading up to me being in handcuffs, I didn’t say “look guys, I haven’t been drinking!” I was professional.
And their false belief was once you put somebody under arrest, they can’t unarrest you. No, that’s not true. The way it works is they arrest on probable cause, ok? Now if the probable cause goes away, which is 0.00, then yes, they can release you.
Officer Boulware: And he on the data master he did blow zeros due to the two-hour constraint-he was booked in at that time.
Parker: They did not do that. I ended up coming out of pocket $3,500. $200 for bail, $50 for court cost. Take time off from work. Week and a half admin leave. And all for being sober. Oh, and by the way, I voluntarily went and got a drug test and took that to court.
Parker: And when I got to the station, I blew zeroes. And he was like, “Huh, you weren’t lying.” And then hands me a boating under the influence ticket, a no registration, although I had a copy of it on my phone, and a negligent operation of the boat ticket.
Huff: I’ve shown you this morning that after his release from jail Mr. Parker took a voluntary urine test, through Quest Diagnostic Laboratory. That [test] reflected no drugs in his system, at least four days after his arrest, is that right?
Officer Boulware: That’s correct.
Parker: The bottom line is I was put in jail and I blew zeroes, regardless if I was being unsafe. If I was, then I should have gotten an unsafe ticket and not spent the night in jail.
Huff: So, as to the custodial arrest of taking him to the Aiken Detention Center, rather than just giving him a ticket and letting him leave, which sometimes that occurs. You give a person a boating infraction ticket and let them leave without taking them into custody. Is that right?
Officer Boulware: Yes, that can happen.
Huff: All right, but in this situation we have today, the basis of the custodial arrest and the need or the choice to put him in incarceration was due to the fact that this was a boating under the influence charge. Is that right?
Officer Boulware: That’s correct.
Parker: Went down to the station and still thinking, “OK, I’m going to blow into a machine and everything is going to be ok.”
Huff: Okay, not the other two, it was the boating under the influence. Is that right?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Huff: You gave him a data master test at the Aiken County Detention Center that evening?
Officer Boulware: That’s correct, we did.
Huff: All right, and the results were zero?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Huff: Which showed that there was no alcohol in his system at the time of the test. Correct?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Huff: And according to our statute, if a person registers less than a .05, they are presumed not to be under the influence of alcohol. Correct?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Huff: All right. The arrest time was 9:40 in the evening and the test result time was 11:40 in the evening. Right?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Huff: Okay. So, even though the field sobriety test, as you mentioned, indicated he was under the influence of alcohol; he had no alcohol in his system at the time of the test?
Officer Boulware: Correct.
Parker: I had to post bond. So, they kept me there all night. On top of all that, I had to post bond the next day at 10 AM. So, at this point I’ve been in the jail for ten hours, posted bond, go up in shackles, like I’m a serial killer. Shackles on my ankles. Shackles on my wrists.
Huff: The testimony and documentation you have before you would indicate that Mr. Parker was not under the influence of any alcohol or drugs at the time of the boating charge. As you’re aware, our statute presumes that anything less than a .05 is presumed not under the influence of alcohol. There was no urine test requested that evening, because there was no reasonable suspicion that there was any drugs involved and, in fact, Mr. Parker voluntarily took a urine test four days later. I know there is a delay, but at no fault of his own. He didn’t have one done that night. Didn’t know he needed to, but he immediately did once he felt that that would be something that he would like to show to the Court. As to the failure to registrate, or have registration on him, I think there’s sufficient evidence that he did have valid documentary evidence that it was registered, and we provided both of those to the Court and we would move for a directed verdict of acquittal on that charge of not having a registered boat. As to the negligent operation, we have no motion.
Metro Spirit: Amazingly enough, the judge had nothing to say about the arrest up to this point, leading one to believe this is standard operating procedure in South Carolina. Not only was he totally nonplussed by the plight of Parker, he pressed for a fine as icing on the cake.
Court: All right. The Court will grant the motion from the Defense for a not guilty verdict directed on the boating under the influence under summons, not guilty, and the no boat registration under summons 847314, motion granted of not guilty, and the Court will find you guilty of negligent operation of the motor vehicle and I’ll have to check the fines on those to see what we’re going to do with that. Okay. Anything else?
The state: The maximum is $465.
Court: Okay.
State: But I already discussed with the attorney here.
Huff: Yeah, Judge, he spent a night in jail also.
State: We can, we can, we can —
Court: I think there’s a court cost involved. Maybe thirty or fifty dollars I believe, but I’ll find out and it may be higher.
State: $105 is the minimum.
Huff: Was it, was it one — I didn’t bring my notebook with me. I meant to go by the office. It’s something it’s – we got to find out what that is.
Court: We can do it. I’ll get the girls to look it up.
Huff: Yes, sir. We’ll be ready to pay that as soon as we find out that amount.
Court: Okay. All right. If you’ll grab —-
(end of transcript)
Parker isn’t sure what he will do next. His main goal, he said, was to draw attention to what occurred to him. “I don’t want to see this happen to someone else.
“A lot of it is these guys are out here doing this stuff and there are no checks and balances. Folks need to know about it.”
According to Sergeant John Harwell, with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, handheld breathalyzers, while inadmissible in court, are carried by Georgia game wardens. Parker feels perhaps that would be advisable for South Carolina.