ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
The case of the too-fast Volvo took a curious turn Thursday when Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's lead-footed aide who got off with a warning last weekend asked police to cite him for speeding anyway.
But Chesterfield County police refused to write him a ticket because of a creative reading of a century-old statute that protects General Assembly members and their aides from false imprisonment.
"Our interpretation is that he cannot be issued a ticket because the General Assembly is in session," said Chesterfield police spokesman Don Kappel. "It's like diplomatic immunity."
Calling that interpretation silly, Beyer spokeswoman Page Boinest said Elliott planned to pay the county $90 - with or without a speeding citation.
"They are not above the law," she said. "He wants to be ticketed" as any other person would be.
Elliott and Beyer were returning to Richmond on Saturday afternoon when the lieutenant governor's Volvo was clocked at 73 mph in a 55-mph zone on U.S. 360.
Police stopped Elliott, but did not give him a ticket. Boinest said the officers made no mention of immunity when they let Elliott go with a warning.
Under state law, lawmakers, the lieutenant governor and their aides cannot be "taken into custody or imprisoned" during an assembly session unless for charges of "treason, felony or breach of the peace."
The statute did not bar police in Richmond from charging Del. Robert Nelms, R-Suffolk, with indecent exposure this month in connection with an incident in a city park. Nelms claimed he was relieving himself. He is scheduled to appear in court March 25.
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