Bluffton council member sues town and cops for negligence after traffic arrest
Bluffton Town Council member Bridgette Frazier has filed a lawsuit against the town, the town’s police department and its police chief, Joe Babkiewicz, Officer Richard Ramirez and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles regarding a traffic arrest from 2024.
Filed on Sept. 5, Frazier and her husband, Warren Anthony Patterson, sued the parties on 12 different claims, ranging from negligent hiring and retention to false arrest.
Ramirez pulled Frazier over on March 9, 2024 for driving 21 mph above the speed limit near Bluffton Parkway and Persimmons Street, according to a report from the Bluffton Police Department. The report says that Ramirez ran her license and confirmed with dispatch that it had been suspended.
Frazier’s record led the officer to place her under arrest, according to previous reporting from The Island Packet.
“The suspect’s driving record was extensive with an abundance of suspensions for the same violation along with others. These factors coupled with her current suspension aided in my determination to place the suspect under arrest,” the officer wrote in the report.
The Bluffton Police Department later dropped Frazier’s charges after the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles submitted written confirmation that her driving privileges should not have been suspended at the time of her arrest.
What does the lawsuit say?
The lawsuit alleges that Frazier provided proof that her license was not suspended, but that she was detained, arrested and imprisoned at the county detention center anyway. It alleges that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles provided incorrect information about Frazier’s license status to Ramirez and the police department.
At the jail, the lawsuit said Frazier was “subjected to mistreatment and conditions of confinement.” Frazier and her husband are allegedly paying “large amounts of money” for medical treatments and services resulting from the event.
“Defendant Ramirez compelled plaintiff to be confined and detained in an unfit, unsafe, vile and filthy cell with drunken, diseased, unclean and mentally unstable people,” the lawsuit said. The experience left Frazier emotionally distressed and caused additional financial losses through legal fees and time off work.
Frazier believes that her arrest and confinement were made on behalf of Babkiewicz, and that all of the defendants “conspired together for the false and unlawful arrest and confinement” in the detention center, the court filing said.
Reached by phone late Tuesday, Babkiewicz referred all questions to the town’s legal department. Ramirez still works at the Bluffton Police Department, Babkiewicz said, and is an “outstanding” officer.
Efforts to reach Frazier by phone and email went unreturned. Her lawyer also did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment Tuesday evening.
“Town representatives are aware of the lawsuit; however, no one from the town has officially received or been served the lawsuit,” Bluffton spokeswoman Debbie Szpanka said.
Last July, Frazier demanded $2 million from the town as compensation for her claims of “false arrest and false imprisonment” stemming from the March 2024 traffic stop. In a letter, Frazier’s lawyer, Tiffany Spann-Wilder, wrote that the town was liable for “negligence, negligent supervision, false arrest and false imprisonment.”
Frazier has served on the town council since 2020. She was re-elected to her council seat in 2024. Her second term will end in 2028.
