Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Press Release Re: Whitehead Arrest
Destin, Florida (The Weekly Vice) -- Robert Scott Whitehead has some 'spainin to do. After authorities arrested him for driving drunk, crashing into two cars and then attempting to leave the scene of an accident - you might say he'll need a good DUI defense attorney.
Turns out, Robert Whitehead IS a DUI defense attorney.
According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Whitehead was driving intoxicated Saturday night when he hit a car at the intersection of U.S. Highway 98 and Scenic Highway 98. He then reportedly hit another vehicle a short time later. Both accidents created major traffic backups.
Investigators say they arrived on the scene to find Whitehead "heavily intoxicated" with watery, red eyes and slurred speech. While deputies were processing the scene, he reportedly told them "I don't want to go to jail."
When fire crews arrived on the scene, deputies say Whitehead attempted to place his vehicle in gear in an attempt to drive away. Officers managed to pull the keys out of the ignition before he could get very far.
After refusing to take a breath test, deputies were attempting to arrest him when they ran into problem after problem. Whitehead had trouble finding his license, insurance and registration and then later needed a deputy to help put his sandals back on his feet..
When deputies tried to walk him to the patrol car, he reportedly stumbled along and then had trouble putting his butt in the seat. Deputies say he finally settled on laying down on his left side while kicking his feet "as if to push off an object that was not there," according to the arrest report.
After arriving at the jail, Whitehead reportedly stumbled several times - at one point pushing a deputy up against a wall. After refusing to submit to a breath test he asked the deputy to call him a cab, according to the arrest report.
Whitrhead was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail on charges of DUI with property damage and personal injury, refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test and leaving the scene of an accident.
The Weekly Vice Opinion:
We noted Whitehead listed DUI cases at the very top of his "areas of practice" on a website he advertises on.
Mr. Whitehead - perhaps you should drop that DUI listing down to the bottom for awhile until this blows over? Just a thought.
p.s. Do you always kick at things that aren't there? Just curious.
Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
http://www.theweeklyvice.com
Have a great news article to share? Please share it in our new forums!
Join the discussion. Click comments link below and fire away!
Posts
21 comments:
Ok seriously a DUI attorney arrested for DUI!! How much for stupid can you get!!! Well he's gonna have a ton of fun in court now isn't he!!! ROFLMAO!!!!
I'm surprised they did not get a warrant to draw blood like they do here in AZ. Now they can never prove if or how drunk he was. Bet he gets off light.
this could be a boon for him...he can now tell prospective clients that he knows what they are going though..well, that is if he doesnt get disbarred first
Well said M-Jay. But really how creepy does a lawyer have to be to get disbarred?
Imagine if he beats the rap... It will be a real boom for his business.
Lawyers... The second oldest profession.
Remember lawyers are just politicians in the maggot stage.
I have been a client of Scott for about 14-5 months in a civil action against Waterstone Resort Realty LLC and I have been impressed with him. I saw the Destin Log article online and below is my comment to the publisher:
RE: Whitehead drunk driving article
From: computer201@hotmail.com
Sent: May 26, 2009 11:07:39 AM
To: William Hatfield (william_hatfield@link.freedom.com)
Dear Editor Hatfield:
I saw and commented on the recent article by Ms. Wendy Victoria regarding my attorney and his drunk driving arrest.
It is a worthy news item, sort of a man bites dog thing where an attorney who defends drunk drivers is himself arrested for the same.
I would like to comment that the item seems considerable overblown in both the various quotes and text.
For instance it is made much of that this was involving a 'head on' crash, yet there were no injuries except for a noted 'abrasion' on Whitehead. A good deal of ink was used up making mention of the condition of Whitehead, ie: how drunk he was suppose to have been, even repeating the same quoted info from the Police Report.
I thought the article as written, 1,068 words, which printed out 2 full pages and a bit of a 3rd on my computer, was entirely overblown for a DUI with 2 fender benders.
I am not at all in favor of DUI's and in fact I grew up with a drunk for a stepfather, he subsequently died of a ruined liver, probably the reason I do not drink at all, never have, never will.
The reporting was overblown, repetitious and probably done as a favor to the S.O. to take down a peg or two a well known local attorney who has an active criminal defense practice and who has defended high profile DUI cases in the past.
I don't have the email of Wendy Victoria but please feel free to pass on my comments to her as I think she needs to have some feedback from someone who both knows Mr. Whitehead and can spot a hatchet job when he sees one.
Sincerely,
William Harris
PCB, FL
@William,
The DUI wouldn't be newsworthy for us in and of itself.
What put it over the top for us is the fact that he allegedly tried to flee the scene, asked for a cab ride home and created two significant enough accidents.
Last month we profiled a story of an attorney who dumped her kids off on the road and drove away.
The two cases have the same thing in common. These "professionals" both know better. They know the law and various consequences of such behavior.
In both cases, someone's life was put at risk - yet they did it anyway.
I'm not sure why you're complaining about a newspaper's report of this story on our blog - but that really should remain between you and the paper.
I'll leave your comment up - but please don't fill my blog with additional "ink" that doesn't even pertain to us.
@William-
I'm shocked that you're complaining about this article because you believe he has done a good job with your case. The fact remains that he was driving drunk and caused 2 collisions because of it. He could have killed someone with his irresponsible actions. I'm glad he's getting bad "ink" because of it. That should only be the start of what he gets.
Sorry, William, but this is just too damn funny!
I can just see a future advertisement for this guy: "...and remember, I'm not just an attorney for drunk drivers, I'm also a defendant!"
Ok, I think everyone needs to start taking into consideration quite a few things. First off, I know Scott Whitehead personally and he IS a good man. What he has done is wrong. His 14 year old daughter is following all of these blogs that have recently been posted about her father and is defending him herself as best she can. Yes, what Mr. Whitehead did was wrong, and believe me, he does know that, he does understand that, he is upset about the things he has done, but what's done is done. He very well may have to pay dearly for his actions. HOWEVER, not only are you bad mouthing a prominent attorney, and I might add father of three who is going through many problems at home, but you are jeopardizing the cases of his clients. Whether the thought has occured to you or not, lots of people read these blogs, and it could affect jury decisions among other things because of all the bad mouthing of Mr. Whitehead. You are not just bad-mouthing him, you are hurting his family more, and they are already suffering enough, and you are hurting clients of his as well, innocent people!!!!!!!!!! Grow up people, go find something better to do with your lives than criticizing other people. He made some bad decisions and big mistakes, thank God that no one was hurt and let those people who can and will take care of disciplinary action handle it. Are any single one of you truly innocent???? He made a more public mistake, how many of you do improper things daily. Look at your own lives before you criticize others, you do not know his situation or that of his family. It doesn't excuse what he has done, and he knows that as we all do, it is something he has to live with. Do not continue to make his family suffer as well as those clients of his that could be affected by these hurtful blogs. Mr. Whitehead is a friend of mine and I do not like to see him get talked about in such a hurtful way. You are all making yourselves smaller people in my eyes and many others by ridiculing someone else. You are also hurting his family. I don't ask you to necessarily do this for Mr. Whitehead but please refrain from any more bad mouthing for the sake of his family. Also keep in mind that many of you who are reading this have been represented by Mr. Whitehead or know someone who has been represented by Mr. Whitehead. You weren't complaining or bad mouthing Mr. Whitehead then when he kept many of you from being wrongfully prosecuted. But now that he has made a very public mistake you are quick to turncoat and disparage him immensely.
Well...guess what - Mr. Whitehead was arrested YET AGAIN for DUI on May 31st...go to www.nwfdailynews.com to see the full article. Second DUI and Refusal to Submit in 8 days. This time, the Judge did not issue a bond; he's still sitting in jail.
Country girl,
Maybe Mr. Whitehead should think about these things before he gets arrested yet again for DUI.
Instead of worrying so much about his online reputation maybe you can get him the help he would seem to desperately need.
To anonymous, he WAS NOT arrested for a DUI and everyone needs to get the facts straight. And to Eastside, we are trying to get Scott the help he needs
Yes he did again get arrested for another DUI, and refused to blow again. He is in the medical unit In Okaloosa County Jail, he tried to hang himself. Fort Walton Beach, FL
Countrygirl - Your assertion that Whitehead was NOT charged with a DUI is false.
I don't know if you are merely uninformed or purposely trying to distort the facts, but in either case you are wrong.
As most readers here know, this site does not simply rewrite an article from some other news source. We research the case and then write the story using the most direct sources possible.
Jail records, police reports, press release statements, etc.
I normally post a link backing up the story at the top of each post.
I apologize to everyone for forgetting to post the link this time. As you can see, I've rectified this.
Countrygirl, I'm sure the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office would love to hear your version of events. Since you know better what happened than they do, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.
For those of you following this story, he did it again. His second DUI in 8 days. This jerk should know better.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/whitehead-17872-guard-crash.html
The thing about the posts defending Scott Whitehead are they are clearly one-sided. In the legal community, he is considered a doper, a drunk. Everyone knows it is David Snell who has saved his firm from drowning. Scott comes to court jacked up if he even shows up at all. Has been for doing this for years. He may be in his late 30s but looks much older. There is nothing "prominent" about his firm and nothing remotely decent about his lawyering skills. Everyone just feels sorry for David Snell. And he did pick up another DUI the next weekend - this isn't his first rodeo either - more like his 4th.
Well, well, Countrygirl- How we DO get around. Not only are you defending this scumbag lawyer in the local news, but also here. I'm SO Impressed that you are so good at telling the rest of us we need to get a life, when you obviously are so engrossed in abandoning YOURS in support of this loser. I think you should cut YOUR losses, and let this guy go down the drain on his own. We should let the legal system take its course, and in the immortal pirate saying, (apologies to Billy Bowlegs and his crewe,) " Hoist him by his own petard!"
July 3, 2009
These 2 cases are now over. For all the comments on how serious these DUI's were it seems that the judge didn't agree. The first one, the one reported as a 'head on accident' then later in the article happened to mention that there were NO injuries, that resulted in him having to pay $1900 and attend a class, the second DUI got tossed as there was no evidence he had been drinking.
So much for law enforcement in Destin, just charge someone with DUI when there is no evidence of it. Oh, wait, he is a DEFENSE attorney who does DUI cases, guess we can figure out why the cops made up charges can't we! Well the 2nd DUI was tossed.
The Destin Log reporters are in bed with the cops, they write big overblown stories and call it journalism. I call it a hatchet job and clearly the judge didn't think much of it either.
Bill Harris
PCB Fla
Maybe something bad happened to him. Like family type shit.
Nice try little Bill. He's going to jail for almost a year.
Most DUI sentences are a weekend in jail or a week in jail.... or sometimes they are 90 days in jail.
11 months in jail = the judge WAS concerned about the case you jackass.
Go run your lying mouth someplace where people don't do their research
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/violating-30150-jail-driving.html
DUI lawyer charged with DUI shows his not a good example to everybody. How can he defend his clients if he himself is not a good abiding citizen. He need help of a fellow DUI lawyer to defend him in court and helping him in his stressful journey.
Joseph @ DUI solicitors Mt Druitt
Sydney Drink Driving & DUI Lawyers | Beazley Singleton Solicitors
14/370 Pitt St Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9283 8622
http://sydneydrinkdriving.com.au/
jaboorman@beazleysingleton.com.au
Post a Comment
****Please Read Before Posting****
The fastest way to post is to type your comment, click "NAME", enter any screen name you wish, and then click "PUBLISH".
Anonymous posts are discouraged, because it makes a conversation difficult to follow. No one can tell who's talking to who. Be somebody. Pick a name - any name. This way your fellow bloggers know who you are when you return to comment again. Thank you!