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The Highway Patrol on Friday issued Rep. Cary Allred a citation for driving 102 mph in a 65 mph zone, four days after he was pulled over in connection with the first of several incidents sparking a legislative inquiry.
 

Allred, a Burlington Republican, was on his way to the legislative session Monday evening when Highway Patrol Trooper N.A. Mitchell pulled him over near the split of I-40 and I-85 in Orange County. Allred said during an interview Thursday that the trooper was pacing his car and not using radar.
 

It is unclear why Allred was let go with just a warning on Monday.
 

“We’re looking into that,” said Sgt. J.E. Brewer, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol. “Action should have been taken at the time, and we’re looking into that. Nonetheless, action was taken today by the Highway Patrol going to a district attorney, and charges having been filed.”
 

A court date has been set for early June.
 

Allred said Friday that he did not think he was going 102 mph.
 

“I think the patrolman’s equipment is miscalibrated,” Allred said. “I did have to get a burst of speed to get around the cars that were doing 80 mph so I could get into the lane that goes to I-40. I was absolutely not driving along constantly at that speed.”
 

He described the charges that were brought as part of a continuing “witch hunt” by Democratic leaders in the House. “This has been turned into a case of reverse favoritism to go after me four days after the fact when the officer apparently did not think I was endangering anybody,” Allred said.
 

House Speaker Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat, has ordered an inquiry into Allred’s behavior Monday. After he arrived on the House floor, witnesses give various accounts of Allred smelling like alcohol, embracing and kissing a teenage volunteer page and being overly combative during the session.
 

Depending on the results of that inquiry, Allred could be subject to ethics charges ranging from a private admonishment to expulsion from the House.
 

Allred denied all allegations, including the implication that he may have been drunk, in interviews Thursday and Friday. He said he remembers having one cocktail of beer and tomato juice before driving to the General Assembly on Monday.
 

When asked whether he had been contacted by the sergeant at arms office, the legislative department charged by Hackney with investigating Allred’s behavior, Allred said, “They haven’t even called me. Apparently, they don’t want my side of the story.”
 

Legislators are given no special protection or privilege on their way to sessions, according to Gerry Cohen, a lawyer who heads the bill-drafting office at the General Assembly.
 

From 1787 until 1991 there was a law that stated legislators may not be arrested on their way to session. The measure, Cohen said, was a holdover from Colonial days and designed to prevent a king or governor from tampering with legislative business. But even then there was an exemption for committing a crime.
 

“Obviously, a violation of a motor vehicle statute is a crime,” Cohen said. That law was stricken in 1991 when a lawmaker tried to use it to defend himself against a ticket.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com