Busted but honest: Bluffton driver tells cops: ‘I was driving like an a--hole’

A driver in Bluffton who told a deputy he was “just speeding to work, that’s all” was charged with reckless driving on Tuesday after he allegedly sped through a residential area, disregarded traffic signs and nearly collided with another vehicle.

The incident took place on Wellington Drive and Rooks Bridge Drive around 7:30 a.m. when a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed a driver not wearing a seat belt slow rapidly as he passed the deputy’s patrol vehicle as he held a cell phone in front of his face with one hand, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

The deputy pulled onto the roadway intending to stop the vehicle when he saw the driver then fail to stop at a stop sign at Parkside Drive and not use his turn signal as he turned left onto Parkside Drive.

At that point, the deputy turned on his lights and saw the vehicle rapidly accelerate before turning once again without a signal onto Bridgewater Drive.

The vehicle then sped up again before it almost struck another vehicle attempting to back from a driveway along Bridgewater Drive, the report said.

The suspect’s vehicle stopped so quickly to avoid collision that the deputy observed smoke come from the tires before it accelerated again and passed several pedestrians at a “high rate of speed.”

The deputy then turned on his siren and gave verbal commands until the driver eventually stopped and was placed in handcuffs.

“I’m just speeding to work, that’s all,” the report said the man said.

The driver was charged with reckless driving and given a seat belt violation.

After he was advised of his Miranda Rights, the man admitted, “I was driving like an a--hole” and “Yeah, I was driving recklessly.”

Deputies found a folded piece of paper containing unknown powder in the vehicle along with three syringes with orange caps, a Walgreens Rx bottle containing miscellaneous pills, a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm magazine with seven rounds and one round blue pill.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Busted but honest: Bluffton driver tells cops: ‘I was driving like an a--hole’."