All charges against Assistant District Attorney Eric Bellas were dismissed Wednesday in a case involving a bicycle accident last June.
Bellas was charged with a 30-day civil revocation of his driver’s license and driving while impaired while riding a bicycle on June 20 while attending the North Carolina District Attorneys’ Summer Association meeting in Sunset Beach.
Bellas, 45, was riding a bicycle around the golf course at the hotel he was staying at, said his attorney Roy Trest. In a trial in Brunswick County Wednesday, Trest said he used that information as part of his reason for why the charge of DWI should not stand.
“To be charged, it has to be in a public area, a parking lot, something like that. He was on a golf course, not on a street or highway,” he said. “You also have to show he was impaired by a substance. We showed he was impaired by facial injuries, with a broken nose and other bruises.”
Trest said he used a previous case, State v. Hough, to back up their case. In State v. Hough, the officers arrived at a car wreck 30 minutes after it happened and were unable to tell if the person’s condition was because he was intoxicated or if it was because of the injuries he sustained in the wreck.
Officers were initially called to the resort just before midnight on June 20 because of Bellas’ bicycle accident, automatically coming when EMS was called, according to the Sunset Beach police chief. The responding officer believed Bellas was intoxicated, but Bellas did not consent to having his blood drawn to be tested for alcohol.
Because Bellas did not agree to be tested, he was automatically cited with a 30-day civil revocation of his license. Trest said Bellas has had his driver’s license since a hearing in October, when it was determined there was not sufficient evidence to suspend his license.
Trest said Bellas is eager to put this behind him, and thankful District Attorney Jay Gaither trusted the court system.
“The district attorney here is aware there is a presumption of innocence, and to let the legal system play out, as it is supposed to. Mr. Bellas and I appreciate Jay Gaither’s patience,” he said.
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