[NC] "Resigned" Trooper Stiwinter's defense for drunk hit and run with injury is his divorce. Only 15 days in jail.

...the sentencing followed guilty pleas by Timothy Scott Stiwinter... [Defense attorney Chris Stepp] said Stiwinter was distraught at the time of the accident over martial problems and a custody battle involving his son. "It was a time when he had hit rock bottom"... Stiwinter was on leave back in September after the ABC TV station in Ashville reported that his wife had taken out a protective order saying he threatened to put a bullet between her eyes. But his wife never pressed charges and Stiwinter stayed on with the patrol...

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[NC] Trooper Stiwinter's wife is afraid - ...According to the wife's words it was not the first time he's threatened her life...

FORMER TROOPER SENTENCED TO 15 DAYS FOR HIT AND RUN

WSPA

February 15, 2011

[Excerpt] A former state trooper who was drunk when he ran a red light, plowed into a car and fled the scene was sentenced today to 15 days in jail followed by a month of house arrest. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the sentencing followed guilty pleas by Timothy Scott Stiwinter in Buncombe County Superior Court. Stiwinter, 40, was convicted of felony inflicting serious injury by vehicle, felony hit and run, driving while impaired and failure to stop for a red light. Judge Phillip Ginn imposed a suspended sentence of 16-20 months in prison and three years of probation. As a condition of his probation, Stiwinter must serve the jail term and house arrest and pay a $1,000 fine... [Full article here]

FORMER TROOPER SENTENCED ON HIT AND RUN CHARGE

The Asheville Citizen-Times

8:34 AM, Feb. 15, 2011

[Excerpt] ... Police say Stiwinter was off duty from his job with the N.C. Highway Patrol when he ran a red light near the intersection of Airport and Fanning Bridge roads shortly before midnight June 24. The wreck left Ronald Schott, of Franklin, hospitalized in serious condition. An Asheville officer found Stiwinter’s 2006 Nissan Titan stopped on Hendersonville Road shortly after the accident and took him into custody. The trooper refused to perform a field sobriety test or take a blood-alcohol test. Stiwinter resigned a few hours later. He was a master trooper who had been with the Highway Patrol since 1999... [Full article here]

FORMER STATE TROOPER PLEADS GUILTY TO ASHEVILLE HIT-AND-RUN, DWI

Suspended term for DWI, hit-run

The Asheville Citizen-Times

Feb. 15, 2011

[Excerpts] Witnesses had no doubt Timothy Scott Stiwinter had been drinking the night he plowed into a car as it left Asheville Regional Airport. But the off-duty state trooper was sober enough to get out of his 2006 Nissan Titan, check the pulse of the man he had just left with serious injuries and then flee... Stiwinter "brought shame" on the N.C. Highway Patrol, [Judge Phillip] Ginn told him during sentencing... Police say Stiwinter ran a red light near the intersection of Airport and Fanning Bridge roads shortly before midnight June 24. Ronald Schott, of Franklin, had just returned from a business trip. He suffered a concussion and rib fractures and had to have his spleen removed ... Schott, 70, told the court during Tuesday's hearing that he's no longer able to work and suffered neurological damage that took away his senses of smell and taste. "I've lost my short-term memory. I have problems focusing on task," he said. "It impacted my life and my family's life"... Stiwinter refused to perform a field sobriety test or take a blood-alcohol test. Hess said a blood sample obtained by court order about three hours after the accident showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.16 percent, which is twice the legal limit... [Defense attorney Chris Stepp] said Stiwinter was distraught at the time of the accident over martial problems and a custody battle involving his son. "It was a time when he had hit rock bottom," Stepp said. "They say sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you start back up. Judge, I respectfully ask you to have mercy on this man"... [Full article here]

FROM LAST JUNE:

NC TROOPER ARRESTED IN DUI HIT-RUN

WTVD

June 26, 2010

[Excerpts] Yet another North Carolina Highway Patrol officer is in trouble. Department officials confirmed Friday that Trooper Timothy Scott Stiwinter was charged with drunken driving and felony hit and run after a wreck at the intersection of Airport Road and Fanning Bridge Road in Asheville Thursday evening. A 911 call was released Friday afternoon from a citizen who witnessed the crash at an intersection near the Asheville airport... Trooper Stiwinter started with the Patrol in 1999 and was assigned to the Troop G District 3 Hendersonville Patrol Office. But it turns out this isn’t the first time Stiwinter’s gotten the attention of his Highway Patrol superiors. Stiwinter was on leave back in September after the ABC TV station in Ashville reported that his wife had taken out a protective order saying he threatened to put a bullet between her eyes. But his wife never pressed charges and Stiwinter stayed on with the patrol. "It seems like it’s one thing after the other," NCHP Spokesman Sgt. Jeff Gordon said. "We’re gonna take this into account and we’re going to try to rebound from this and keep doing what we do best." Gordon says the vast majority of the 1,800 troopers work hard for the public and don’t get into trouble... According to a spokesperson for Bev Perdue, "no one is more frustrated by this latest news about misbehaving troopers than Governor Perdue. While she continues to believe that most of the men and women of the Highway Patrol do an excellent job every day, the simple fact remains, we expect better from all who wear the uniform"... ABC11's I-Team did some checking, and in the last three years, the patrol has had to fire at least five troopers and has accepted at least six resignations... [Full article here]

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