Officials with the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office are standing by their deputies who arrested State Senator Randy Scott.  Sheriff Ray Nash calls the arrest good police work. 

"He had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his person and from the car and we observed extensive erratic driving by four different deputies that observed his driving," Sheriff Nash said.

According to the incident report, Senator Scott failed several field sobriety tests including counting backwards and the alphabet.  He also reportedly berated officers and claimed the arrest was politically motivated, a claim the Sheriff denies.

"I've never given any instructinos to any deputies to target an individual for political reasons and I don't suspect any of the four deputies that were involved had any motivations such as that," Nash said.

Scott's Lawyer says on the night of the incident he had only had two small cups of wine and was not drunk.  He also says at no time did he act improperly towards officers.  He goes on to say that video of the sobriety test shows the Senator displayed normal walking and standing pattens for someone with an amputated leg.  They plan to fight the charges in court. 

"So that the voters can see for themselves that this charge is untrue," his laywer said.

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