Al, Al, Al...

What We Gonna Do Wit' You?

It seems that perenial presidential candidate and camera hog Rev. Al Sharpton is at it again:

WAXAHACHIE — A driver for the Rev. Al Sharpton led Ellis County Sheriff's deputies on a nine-mile chase at speeds up to 110 mph before state troopers stopped the car, authorities

The civil rights activist called the sheriff's report "ludicrous on its face" and accused the officers of "embellishing the story."

Chief Deputy Charles Sullins said the driver was rushing Sharpton to the airport after Sharpton visited anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Sunday at her camp outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford. The car carrying Sharpton and two other passengers was clocked doing 110 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 35 in Ellis County in North Texas.

"That nine-mile chase is news to me," Sharpton told The Associated Press. "All I know is that the police pulled us over because they wanted to talk to the driver about speeding. Other volunteers in the car asked if they could go on and take me to the airport, and that's what we did."

Sharpton said the law required officers to arrest everyone in the car.

"That would be wrong to arrest everyone," Sullins said. "Why would we arrest the passengers for something the driver did?"

Deputies arrested Jarrett Barton Maupin, 43, of Phoenix. Because the 2005 Lincoln was rented to Maupin, sheriff's deputies impounded the car. Maupin posted $1,000 in bonds on charges of evading arrest with a vehicle and reckless driving.

Sullins said the officers offered Sharpton and the other volunteers a ride to a hotel across the highway, but they declined.

Sharpton said he made his scheduled flight from Dallas to New York.

Texas citizens can rest easy, but if I were in NY I'd be checking my rearview mirror very carefully...