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That happened in this case, but Assistant Solicitor Donna Green told the judge troopers took the blood sample too late.

Under state law at the time, investigators could forcefully take a blood sample from a suspect in a felony DUI investigation without a search warrant. Alford asked Freeman to give a blood and urine sample so investigators could measure his blood alcohol concentration, which Freeman refused. Therese Alford got to the Hartsville Hospital around midnight. The patrol’s investigative records show Sgt. Patrol supervisors eventually tracked Freeman down to a hospital in Hartsville, 25 miles west of the crash site. Kelley asked first responders on scene if they knew which hospital medics took Freeman. Kelley was stuck at the scene, photographing evidence and marking the scene for the patrol’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team headed to Bethune to begin their investigation into the cause of the crash. In fact, phone calls Kelley had with his supervisors captured on his dash camera provided further evidence that Freeman was not under arrest when he left the scene in the ambulance. Freeman was never arrested on scene no trooper or law enforcement officer was with him on his way to the hospital. Medics then attended to Freeman, and he left the scene in the back of an ambulance. He couldn’t perform further tests because of the foot and chest injuries Freeman complained of on scene. The video shows Kelley attempted at least one field sobriety test on Freeman, which the trooper said Freeman failed. (WJZY Photo/Jody Barr)ĭropping his felony DUI to a misdemeanor.Īssistant Solicitor Donna Green, according to Scott, claimed evidence was lost and mishandled, and there was nothing the state could do to move forward with prosecuting Freeman. Scott was paralyzed in a felony DUI crash in Bethune, S.C., on May 21, 2013. Chris Scott and his mother, Lisa Mitchell, wait for a breathing treatment to finish during an interview at their Jacksonville, N.C., home on May 24, 2023. Then, in April, Scott got a call from the solicitor’s office telling him they were offering Freeman a plea deal. “All the excuses that they kept coming up with, with the attorneys, and they couldn’t find this and that, and all the excuses, and I knew there was something wrong with the case,” Scott said. With each passing year, Scott said he grew even more suspicious that prosecutors weren’t telling him the whole story. Since 2013, Chris Scott estimated he’s spoken with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office three times about the pending felony DUI case against Freeman.