A D.C. ANC commissioner suspected of drunken driving used racially charged language with officers, urinated in a police station and then refused to come out of a bathroom at the police station, according to the police report.
A Prince George’s County Police officer stopped Paul Trantham for swerving just after midnight Tuesday in Oxon Hill, Maryland, police said. The officer said he pulled up next to Trantham at a stop light and saw him falling asleep. The officer asked Trantham to pull over, police said, but he initially refused before eventually pulling into a parking lot in the 5100 block of Indian Head Highway.
The officer smelled alcohol, police said, and asked Trantham if he had been drinking. Trantham replied he had two Heinekens, police said.
He refused a field test and started shouting at police when asked to get out of the vehicle, saying he knows Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, police said.
Asked if he would take a breath test, Trantham agreed and was taken to a police station, where he refused a breath test and used racially charged language, police said.
At one point he stood up, peed on the floor of the station and told the officers they could clean it up, police said.
He was removed from handcuffs and allowed to use the bathroom, but then refused to come out, requiring officers to take him back into custody, police said.
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“Late this afternoon, Mr. Trantham made several accusations about the arresting officer and officers at the District IV station during an interview with a local TV outlet,” a Prince George’s County Police press release said. “During that interview, Mr. Trantham admitted to having consumed alcohol prior to driving, said he can’t recall whether he used racial slurs against our officers, and also accused officers of being ‘homosexual’ for coming into the bathroom.”
After he was back in custody, Trantham continued talking about being a D.C. public official who would have the officers fired, police said.
Trantham is charged with resisting arrest and received four traffic citations: Unsafe lane change, failure to stop at a stop sign, driving under the influence and driving while intoxicated.
