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Senator, trooper disagree on traffic stop
The Mobile Press Register reported Saturday that Lindsey was stopped for speeding in Washington County the previous Wednesday and he told the trooper that the Legislature was in session. The 1901 Alabama Constitution gives legislators immunity from arrest during their travels to and from legislative sessions. Historians say the measure was included at the time to deter any lawmen that might try to interfere with the legislative process. State Trooper spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt told the Mobile newspaper that State Trooper James Strickland stopped Lindsey's vehicle about 9:15 a.m. Sept. 6 headed south on Alabama 17 near its intersection with Alabama 45. The car was clocked doing 79 mph in a 55 mph zone. Earnhardt said Strickland recognized Lindsey and asked him if the Legislature was in session. Strickland said Lindsey said, "yes." Strickland gave him a verbal warning and allowed him to leave. "That's not what occurred," Lindsey told the Press Register. "The word 'session' was never mentioned. Why in the world would I lie when a simple phone call would prove I was not telling the truth?" Lindsey said Strickland "mumbled something that sounded like 'legislation' or, 'Are you a legislator?' And I said 'Yes.' He went to his car and returned in a few minutes. I had my insurance information ready but he never looked at it. He was very curt, very short and said I was free to go. No one ever said the word 'session.'" Lindsey's daughter was in the car, which had an "Elect Pat Lindsey" sign on the door. Lindsey told the Press Register, "I really think this officer is just trying to make a story." Earnhardt said the Alabama Department of Public Safety stands by Strickland's version of the incident. Lindsey, contacted at his Butler law office Monday, said he had nothing to add to the story but said he still disputes Strickland's account and wonders if something else is behind it. Lindsey, a longtime Democratic senator for District 22 which sprawls across much of southwest Alabama, is facing what is expected to be a hard and bitter contest with Republican John McMillan of Stockton in the Nov. 7 general election. Lindsey did note that he was headed south on 17, toward Mobile. "I certainly wouldn't be going that way to Montgomery if the Legislature was in session," he said.
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