Attorney Accuses Officer of Malice

OCEAN CITY

A Salisbury attorney acquitted of a November 2008 DWI charge implied in court that police were out to get him because he was a plaintiff's lawyer in a police brutality suit.

"I said, 'I understand what this was about,' " Sherwood Wescott testified Wednesday in District Court. "That particular night, I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. No matter what I did, they were going to make it look like I was intoxicated."

Wescott was arrested for suspected driving under the influence last November. He refused a field sobriety test at his traffic stop and a breath test at the police station. He admitted to having three drinks after work in Salisbury, but nothing after 7 p.m. He testified that he and a friend arrived at Seacrets at 11 p.m., where he drank iced tea.

"I knew I had to drive," he said.

Judge R. Patrick Hayman said it was that lack of evidence that led to Wescott's acquittal, though "it has not escaped my attention that your client came out of a bar about midnight," he told attorney Melvin Jews.

Wescott, a former Delaware police officer, represented two Berlin teens who sued Ocean City and six police officers in July 2007 for alleged police brutality and false arrest. The 93-count, $18.6-million civil suit was dismissed in October 2008, about six weeks before Wescott's arrest in Ocean City.

Ocean City Police Cpl. Frank Wrench, one of the officers named in the suit, testified that he recognized Wescott leaving Seacrets on Nov. 29, 2008. He said Wescott was apparently intoxicated and was getting into the driver's seat of his SUV. Wrench said he made eye contact, prompting Wescott to exit the vehicle and pace beside it.

Wrench said moments later he turned to see the car backing out. Wrench said he tried to stop Wescott with gestures and yelling, but he drove away. Wrench radioed other officers to watch for the SUV, mentioning Wescott by name, he said.

Pfc. Patrick Flynn, parked at 62nd Street, testified that he heard the radio call and spotted Wescott driving north on Coastal Highway. Flynn said the vehicle pulled onto 64th Street after seeing his patrol car without its emergency lights on and said he thought the driver was trying to avoid him.

Flynn testified that Wescott smelled of alcohol and had glassy eyes and slurred speech. He said Wescott at first refused to exit his vehicle and had to be ordered to. When Wescott refused a field sobriety test, he was arrested.

Wescott said Flynn told him that he was being stopped for having a tail light out, not that he was suspected of driving drunk. Flynn said that was true.

"I figured that would be another element I could use to stop that vehicle," he said.