History of Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce’s arrest incidents
Atlantic Beach mayor, Retha Pierce, has been arrested four times since the end of 2007. Three of those times were traffic-related incidents.
Pierce’s first arrest since being in office was on Christmas Day in 2007. Her most recent arrest was on September 16, 2009.
Here’s a synopsis of each arrest:
December 25, 2007
Horry County police arrested Pierce in Little River. She was charged with Reckless Driving, Failure to Use a Turn Signal, and Resisting Arrest. Police dash-cam video shows officers asking Pierce to get in their patrol car 28 times. She bonded out of jail the next day. On January 16, she failed to appear for her court date in Conway. In April, she turned down a plea deal. In July, Pierce told News13 her charges had been dropped. But after verifying that information, it was determined that the charges were still pending. On July 31, a jury decided it could not reach a decision on her trial and another court date was set for January 29.
January 28, 2009
The day before she was due in court on her Dec. 25 charges, Atlantic Beach police arrested Pierce at the Town Hall. They charged her with Trespassing and Disorderly Conduct. On Jan. 29, when she was supposed to be in court, Pierce passed out and was taken to the hospital. Because of this, she missed her second court appearance. In March, Pierce filed a federal lawsuit against the police for being arrested, citing a “conspiracy” against her.
April 10, 2009
Police arrested Pierce at a church on 30th Ave. South in Atlantic Beach. They said she did not stop for, or report, side-swiping another vehicle earlier in the day on Highway 17. Police charged her with Hit and Run. Pierce had a court date for her outstanding charges in July, but a judge granted a continuance on all of them. A trial date was set for August, but then pushed to September.
September 16, 2009
Highway Patrol troopers arrested Pierce in Marion County for driving erratically. She was charged with Driving Under the Influence. For an unknown reason, Pierce was taken to the hospital before being taken to the Marion County Detention Center. This arrest, like her previous one, came one day before a scheduled court appearance. Because she was in jail during the time of her court appearance, the judge granted her a continuance. A new court date was set for October 6, but did not happen because Pierce requested a jury trial. No date has been set for a jury trial.
It is important to note that drug test results show no alcohol or drugs were found in Pierce’s system when she was arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with Driving Under the Influence.
Pierce hired Benny Webb from the Palmetto Center for Law and Justice to facilitate the tests.
A hair follicle test showed there were no drugs in her system; a urine test showed no alcohol.
Because of these results, Mayor Pierce said there is no probably cause for her arrest or her DUI charge
Reader Reactions
For those of you interest in the actual news, real politics, and current events regarding Retha Pierce, you just might want to look as some real news media web sites.
Breaking news. http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/category.asp?C=109078
These opinions from wd4ed about Benny L. Webb are quite entertaining.
Now back to the topic. I think most of us can see from the history that either Pierce is simply a very unlucky person, is part of some kind of political conspiracy, or simply makes very poor decisions and has some undiscovered or should I say some yet to be proven underlying cause for her constant calamity’s. Even young out of control, immature teenagers do not get in as much trouble as this ex-leader of the community. She has let everyone down and even if she had actually been a victim at some point, it is obvious that she, should and must take responsibility for many of her actions as did officer Rizzo, whom appears to have more integrity than most of the politicians I have meet. Rizzo is a good man.
But all that aside we are still waiting to get the answers to all of these suspicious resent occurrences.
How is it that she was charged with DUI with both blood samples showing no drugs, including the hideous drug Alcohol along with hair and urine samples showing the same? South Carolina Highway patrol un-willing to comment on this ongoing investigation will have some explaining to do. I think many of you want to pretend that Highway Patrol has information that she was intoxicated, when in fact, she was not and you would like to believe that Quality Testing somehow is wrong or is just as incompetent as the rest, when in fact they are the ones that still have some creditability.
How do the so called Atlantic Beach officials justify fire officer Rizzo, only to hire him back a month or two later and now that he is under suspension due to his most recent Alcohol related arrest, will they be re-instating him regardless of the results? Also might I ask just how much integrity does the person that has temporally replaced him have? Maybe there is something in the water or simply some kind of curse on the town just like the little town of Myrtle Beach. I think I would be wise to use Highway 31 avoiding both of these extremely unlucky or cursed towns.
p.s. I also want to know about all the Myrtle Beach money laundering and just how corrupted are so called legal system is that they are not even willing to investigate , what is obvious blatant political corruption. How proud these people must be. You cannot wonder how much integrity their children will grow up with? Remember that the leaf does not fall far from the tree. Ego is as Ego does.
Benny L. Webb, “from the Palmetto Center for Law and Justice,“ is a disgraced law enforcement agent. He was arrested for Assault and Battery of a High and Agrravated Nature, Arrest Warrant H-126015.
There is a “Report of Investigations,” in Case No. 01069373, prepared by Horry County Police Detective R. E. Maxwell, which resulted in Benny L. Webb being arrested at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center and a “Booking Report” being prepared on 11-16-01. Benny L. Webb was released on a Personal Recognizance Bond.
Det. Maxwell interviewed the Atlantic Beach Town Attorney, who was present when Benny L. Webb assaulted former Town Manager William “Pete” Johnson at an Atlantic Beach Town Council Meeting.
“I contacted Wilbur Johnson the Atlantic Beach town attorney. He agreed to a taped interview about this case. Mr. Johnson stated that the council had an executive session about a town official improperly representing the town to the community. The Suspect [Benny L. Webb] was present in this executive session and had a hated [sic] discussion with [Council Memeber] Mrs. Lance. The Council went back into an open session and was attempting to pass a resolution concerning the items discussed in executive session. The Victim [William “Pete” Johnson] was talking out loud trying to make a point of order that the resolution was not on the agenda and was improper. Mr. [Wilbur] Johnson could not hear what all was being said but he heard a loud commotion. He looked back and saw the Suspect [Benny L. Webb] standing over the Victim [William “Pete” Johnson]. The Victim [William “Pete” Johnson] was lying sideways across several chairs and the Suspect [Benny L. Webb] had the Victim [William “Pete” Johnson] by the collar. The Suspect [Benny L. Webb] was stating, “I am tired of your sh[*]t.“ Mike Kelly started walking over to the Victim and Suspect, when the Suspect told him “Stay out of this.“ Mr. Kelly said he was going to call the police. The Town manager Carolyn Montgomery [now known as Carolyn Cole] walked over and placed her hand on the Suspect and said something to him. The Suspect released the Victim and Mr. [Wilbur] Johnson walked over to the Victim and asked if he was all right [sic]. Mr. [Wilbur] Johnson stated that he requested another executive session to discuss the Town liability with the incident the [sic] occurred. The Council agreed to let the Town Manager investigate the incident and report back to them with her findings.“
Town Attorney Wilbur Johnson’s remarks are what is known as “an admission against interest,“ that is, they admitted there was a liability issue for the Town, which he was representing, due to the behavior of Police Chief Benny L. Webb.
Wilbur Johnson is believable.
Benny L. Webb is not believable.
Benny L. Webb is a hothead whose emotions interfere with his judgment, and he does not possess the temperament necessary to be a law enforcement officer.
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