Tuesday, Feb. 7 2012

AIKEN S.C.--The Aiken County Sheriff's Department has dismissed DUI charges against a News 12 employee. Reporter Chad Mills was initially charged for Driving Under the Influence after being pulled over in Aiken County early Sunday morning.

Although the initial charge against Chad was "Driving Under the Influence", the Aiken County Sheriff's Department said that charge should have been
immediately dropped when Chad took a breathalyzer at the Detention Center and the results showed he was not driving drunk. Mills' alcohol-blood content level was 0.02. The legal limit is 0.08. Aiken County Sheriff's Captain Troy Elwell told News 12, the arresting deputy made a mistake. Mills ended up being charged with a minor traffic violation of "driving left of center and failing to maintain a lane."

News 12 reported the story of its reporter's traffic arrest Sunday during its 6p & 11p newscasts after two Augusta websites (TheJailReport.com & AugustaCrime.com) posted stories online about Chad's arrest and DUI charge. News Director Estelle Parsley said, "We wanted viewers to know those website reports were incorrect. Any other time, a reporter or likely anyone being arrested for a minor traffic offense would not be news, however we wanted to set the record straight with our report and in the process work to clear Chad's name."

Both Augusta websites, which initially reported the DUI charge, have since removed or corrected their initial reports to reflect the DUI charge has been dismissed.