Blame it on the mystery car


When Charleston City Council member Deb Morinelli runs off the road and gets charged with DUI - after leaving an AA meeting - it's not her drinking that was to blame.

While some blame such incidents on deer jumping out in front of them, she'd have us believe all would have been fine with her drinking and driving, if it wasn't for some unknown second car that caused the wreck ... and conveniently left the scene. According to Schuyler Kropf at the Post and Courier:


Morinelli, 54, was released from the county jail on a personal recognizance bond Saturday. The two-term councilwoman, who represents parts of the city's West Ashley suburbs, was charged following a single-vehicle traffic accident Friday afternoon on S.C. Highway 61, according to a report. No one was injured.

At 1:30 p.m., the vehicle she was driving left the road and ran into a ditch. Police arrived to find her seated on the ground, the incident report states. She "kept falling over on her back," the report states.

When asked by police if she'd been drinking, she answered: "I had two bottles of wine."

More wine was found in the car, according to the report. On Saturday during a brief phone conversation with The Post and Courier, Morinelli described them as minibottles.

Morinelli said Saturday a car in the middle of the two-lane road caused the wreck. She said she didn't want the story "blown out of proportion."


Driving while falling down drunk, but it was really someone else's fault. Sounds like a slightly more pathetic version of OJ Simpson's "real killer".

Strangely enough, Mayor Joe Riley, who was all over former Council member Kwadjo Campbell's illegal conduct, thinks she's a "great member of City Council" who has "obviously earned the chance to take some time off".

'Tis the season for lame excuses by public officials ...

7 Response to "Blame it on the mystery car"

  1. Anonymous 28/6/09 07:30
    Like you would have done any better?
  2. Waldo 28/6/09 07:49
    You left out which party she belongs to.
  3. Earl Capps 28/6/09 08:07
    Waldo, I didn't know stupidity had a partisan angle.

    Charleston City Council elections are non-partisan these days. However, in the old partisan days, I believe she challenged current council member Larry Shirley, who ran as a Republican when the offices were elected via partisan ballots.

    She is also considered a political ally of Mayor Joe Riley.

    All this seems to suggest she is not a Republican. Sorry I couldn't play into your usual "hypocrite Republican" narrative. Guess you'll have to find something else to write about this morning.
  4. mg 28/6/09 13:27
    those mini bottles will mess you up. after 911 they had a bunch on wine mini bottles in first class on flights and wow.
  5. Robert 28/6/09 13:54
    If she is really having trouble with alcohol and is "seeking help and treatment" as WCIV reports and she is clearly relapsing (evidence: drinking and driving after an AA meeting), then why doesn't she just resign and focus on her private life? It's the same thing with the Governor: if you've had to admit embarrasment in public and you really need time to repair relationships with your wife, kids, in-laws, political supporters, etc., then why not just resign to really focus on your personal life? We forget that these politicians are just people and their lives do not end when they leave office, lose an election or resign. Most of them will be OK when they are out of office. Like Eliot Spitzer, Sanford has plenty of money and will have plenty of opportunities in the private sector outside of politics. I am also assuming that Deborah Morinelli has a life and income outside of her work on city council.

    These politicians who insist on staying in office and riding things out when they clearly have other issues to be dealing with in their lives are pretty selfish if you ask me.
  6. Anonymous 29/6/09 10:19
    Knowing two Republicans that ran against her (excluding Larry Shirley in another district), I'd suspect her to be of the same party as councilwoman Yvonne Evans, whose son seems to have recieved a bit of special treatment after a hit and run...
  7. Drunks 14/1/10 22:21
    She is on the drunk driver registry. www.drunkies.net

    Keep your kids far away from this potential killing machine.

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