A Rowan County commissioner threatened to sue police officers, take their jobs and withhold funds from the department during a DWI stop in Salisbury in late June, newly released video shows.
Police videos from body-worn cameras show a June 27 incident between Craig Pierce and officers. Pierce’s wife, Melissa Pierce, was a passenger in the SUV.
Officer H.M. Lindquist responded to a call about a reckless driver on West Innes Street at Statesville Boulevard at about 7:23 p.m. on June 27, according to a Salisbury police report obtained by WBTV, the Observer’s news partner.
Pierce, 66, is accused of driving 50 mph in a 35 mph zone with a blood alcohol content of .27 — three times the state legal limit, according to the incident report.
In the video, Pierce admitted to drinking at a benefit he and his wife had attended earlier that evening. When officers asked Pierce if he should be driving, the county commissioner said “yes.”
Pierce initially cooperates with the officers, but after attempting several field sobriety tests, he begins to curse and threaten them, the video shows.
”You don’t know who you’re messing with,” Pierce says in the video. “I’m going to sue your ass, and I’m gonna have your job. I promise ya.”
Pierce continues to berate the officers, the video shows, and calls them a “f****** joke.”
After threatening to call his attorney, Pierce said the department’s funds “will go away,” the video shows.
Pierce “unlawfully and willfully did operate a motor vehicle in a street or highway while subject to an impairing substance,” according to an arrest warrant.
WBTV and The Salisbury Post filed a court petition for the police video. Under North Carolina law, only a judge can order release of the footage.
Superior Court Judge Richard Gottlieb on Thursday ordered release of the video.
Pierce is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 22, according to the Post.
The Observer was unable to reach Pierce on Monday evening.
First elected to the Rowan County board in 2012, Pierce, a Republican, won a second and third term in 2016 and 2020.
“It’s a good thing I’m not running again ‘cause this right here will ruin it,” Pierce tells Lindquist in the video published by the Post.
“I don’t want to be county commissioner no more,” Pierce says. “… This is not what I signed up for, OK? And I’m gonna leave it at that.”
*story by The Charlotte Observer
