Council chairman's wife faces DUI charge in New Year's Day crash

Rita F. Smith

By: Kelly Gillespie | SCNow
Published: January 07, 2009

LAKE CITY — The wife of Florence County Council Chairman K.G. Rusty Smith has been charged in connection with an alcohol-related crash that happened New Year’s Day, Lake City Police Department reports show.

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Click here to watch dash cam video from this incident.

Rita F. Smith, 53, of 150 Double R Lane, Lake City, is charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident, according to police reports.

Neither Rita nor Rusty Smith could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Police were called to a two-vehicle collision on East Main Street about 7 p.m. Jan. 1, reports show. Smith’s vehicle, which struck a 17-year-old Lake City woman’s car, had been moved to her residence by the time police arrived and she was taken to her house by her husband.

Police said Rita Smith was driving down East Main Street and hit another vehicle as she tried to turn into her Double R Lane driveway.

Witnesses said the driver failed to yield the right of way and when they checked on her, they smelled alcohol and she could barely stand up, according to the incident report.

Police arrested Rita Smith at her home and took her to the detention center in Effingham for a Datamaster breath alcohol test. She was taken to the county jail initially because the Lake City Police Department’s Datamaster is inoperable, Lake City Police Chief Billy Brown said.

The suspect told police she’d had two glasses of wine and two glasses of champagne to drink throughout the course of the day, according to video footage of the arrest.

Datamaster breath alcohol test results showed the suspect’s blood alcohol concentration at .2 percent. A person is considered too drunk to drive at .08 percent by state law.

Rita Smith was taken back to the Lake City Police Department, where she was booked and spent the night in a jail cell before being released on two $2,000 personal recognizance bonds.

Suspects in cases investigated by the Lake City Police Department are regularly booked at the police department rather than at the Florence County Detention Center in Effingham if they are cooperative, nonviolent adults, Brown said.