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July 20, 2021 4:09 PM By AMY BETH HANSON
Associated Press
Posted:
Updated:
July 20, 2021 6:25 PM
HELENA, Mont. (AP) A state Senate leader stopped by a Montana Highway Patrol trooper on suspicion of speeding had threatened to call the attorney general and argued he couldn’t be arrested because he was a lawmaker on his way to legislative business.
Republican Sen. Jason Ellsworth of Hamilton, the Senate president pro tempore for the 2021 session, faces misdemeanor charges of speeding through a construction zone or an alternative charge of reckless driving and obstructing a peace officer.
Ellsworth was stopped May 23 at about 10:20 p.m. The Montana Free Press first reported the charges Tuesday, and they were filed against the senator on May 26.