Beach cancels bash for Bruce Smith after DUI conviction

VIRGINIA BEACH

After former NFL star Bruce Smith's conviction Thursday of drunken driving, city leaders quickly backed away from plans to honor him.

General District Judge Teresa N. McCrimmon found Smith, 46, guilty of driving under the influence, speeding and refusing to take a breath test. Smith and his attorney, Larry Cardon, immediately appealed the conviction and scheduled a new trial for Aug. 27 in Circuit Court.

Smith's sentence, which included a 90-day suspended jail term, $440 in fines and a one-year suspension of his driver's license, was not imposed because of the appeal.

City leaders had planned to celebrate Smith, a Beach resident and graduate of Norfolk's Booker T. Washington High School, after his election in January to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His arrest just after midnight May 15 led Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms and others to postpone those plans.

The arrest was Smith's third DUI charge. His first, in 1997, was dismissed; his second, in 2003, resulted in acquittal.

City officials scrapped the plans within hours of Thursday's verdict.

"It puts the city in a bad position to be honoring someone who the city has just convicted of a crime," said Beach Councilman Jim Wood.

Councilman Ron Villanueva, who was co-planning the event, agreed.

"He's a tremendous football hero, but like all public figures, we're in the public eye, and we have to demonstrate sound judgment and serve as proper role models."

Meanwhile, Operation Smile, the Norfolk-based children's medical charity, said it would move forward with plans to honor Smith on Sept. 25. Smith was on the group's board of directors from 1995 to 2001 and went on a medical mission to Kenya, said Lisa Jardanhazy, Operation Smile's vice president.

"He's really served Operation Smile for 15 years," she said. "We're pleased to go forward with the event."

During Thursday's trial, Master Police Officer Bryan K. Womble testified that Smith smelled of alcohol after being pulled over for speeding on Interstate 264. His eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he admitted splitting a bottle and a half of wine with three friends earlier in Norfolk, Womble said.

Prosecutor Kristin Paulding showed the judge a police recording of Smith performing three field sobriety tests.

In the video, Smith appeared cooperative but frequently mentioned his knee problems. He also repeated Womble's instructions for each test, including one that required him to take nine steps heel to toe, turn and walk nine steps back heel to toe.

Despite repeating the instructions several times, Smith took 14 steps before finally turning.

Cardon did not dispute that Smith had been speeding on Interstate 264 or that he had refused a breath test after being pulled over. But he blamed Smith's poor field-test results on the former defensive end's concussions, major knee problems and other football injuries rather than alcohol. He handed the judge a stack of medical records detailing the ailments.

The judge dismissed the argument and said Smith couldn't follow the instructions because he was impaired.

During Smith's trial, no one mentioned that the officer who arrested him also faces a drunken-driving charge. Womble was charged June 20, after posting a 0.15 blood-alcohol concentration following a car crash near the Oceanfront. He is on administrative duty pending a July 27 trial, and officials have said the charge would not affect his cases.

Smith played 15 seasons for the Buffalo Bills and four seasons for the Washington Redskins. He retired in 2003 as the NFL's career sacks leader and is to be enshrined Aug. 8 in the Hall of Fame.

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com