A Beaufort-dependent lover of a effectively-recognized South Carolina regulation firm was billed Friday with driving under the affect and also refused to provide a breath sample, in accordance to officials from the South Carolina Freeway Patrol and Beaufort County Sheriff’s Business.
Bennett Joseph Schiller, 54, of Lady’s Island, was charged early Friday morning with driving beneath the affect.
Schiller is a demo law firm and a associate of Schiller & Hamilton, a statewide legislation agency with places of work in Beaufort and Bluffton. Specializing in harm regulation for motor car mishaps, the organization was voted the finest in legal protection law and private damage law by viewers of the Lowcountry’s Greatest magazine in September 2022.
Deputies conducted a targeted traffic prevent on Schiller just before 2 a.m. Friday, as the lawyer was driving on Sam’s Stage Street on Lady’s Island, according to Maj. Angela Viens of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Place of work.
Right after he was stopped, Schiller refused to submit a breath sample for the DataMaster DMT, the only breathalyzer approved for DUI cases across the state, in accordance to Trooper Nick Pye, a spokesperson for the SC Highway Patrol.
In South Carolina, drivers have the correct to refuse a breathalyzer, but these who do are subject matter to suspension of their driver’s license for 6 months or much more. The person’s refusal could also be utilised versus them in court docket.
A agent from Schiller & Hamilton Regulation Organization could not be achieved for comment.
Schiller was released Friday early morning from the Beaufort County Detention Middle on a own recognizance bond.
Evan McKenna is a breaking information reporter for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A Tennessee indigenous and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he stories on crime and security in Hilton Head, Bluffton and Beaufort.
