The recent arrest of Paul Trantham, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 8, has his neighbors talking.

On Dec. 19, 2017, Trantham was arrested for driving under the influence in Oxon Hill, Md., according to court documents. He was taken in by a Prince George’s County police officer at the 5100 block of Indian Head Highway for allegedly swerving from lane to lane.

Paul Trantham is an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 8. (AFRO File Photo)

The police report said the officer smelled alcohol and requested Trantham take a sobriety test. Trantham refused, according to the court document, and when he was asked to get out of the car, the commissioner allegedly shouted at the officer that he knew Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker III and was a certified private investigator.

After agreeing to the breath test, he was taken to the District IV Station where Trantham allegedly urinated on the floor and demanded officers clean it up. While there, Trantham, who is Black, allegedly called the Black officers “niggers” and White officers “crackers.” Trantham was arrested a second time in the police station after an incident in the bathroom where he allegedly addressed officers as “faggots”.

He was taken to the county jail in Upper Marlboro, Md. where he was booked and released.

On Dec. 31, Trantham told the AFRO he was consulting with his attorney. The AFRO was not been able to get any other details from Trantham before press time.

On Dec. 19, Trantham talked about the incident on his Facebook page. “I understand some of the question certain people raise about my incident with the police arresting me last night,” he said in part. “Let me tell you’ll (sic) something right now. Whatever action I take and whatever words come out of my mouth. I will stand on them. None of you experience what I experience last night from Maryland police.

“I pray you never will. I will be going to court on this matter and I will prevail.”

Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski defended the action of his officers.”I found Mr. Trantham’s use of racial epithets during this incident and disparaging characterization of the gay and lesbian community in his public statement offensive. Based on the facts as I have them, I stand with and fully support the actions taken by the officers involved in this arrest and I commend them for their professional conduct in the face of inflammatory and hateful conduct,” he said at a news conference.

Trantham was elected as a commissioner for 8B02 in 2014 and was re-elected in 2016. Trantham is known for being passionate about trying to stop the violence in Ward 8 and for encouraging D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large) to author a successful bill that would make sure that commissioners reside in the districts they represent. Trantham does/does not live in Ward 8. It is unclear why he was in Prince George’s County the night he was arrested.

Olivia Henderson, the chair of the 8D advisory neighborhood commission, told the AFRO that she is disappointed in Trantham. “We as commissioners should set an example for our community,” Henderson said. “We should do this to better our people. We are political figures also and we walk a fine line. He should have been more careful.”

Commissioner Betty Scippio, who represents district 8B05, wouldn’t comment on Trantham’s arrest. Trantham, however, does have support in the ward. Sandra “S.S.” Seegars, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner and candidate for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat, supports him.

“This isn’t a funny,” she said of Trantham’s troubles. “He’s a diabetic and that’s why he peed on himself. He told me that they snatched him off the toilet and would not let him finish. The police were wrong and he got a raw deal at the police station.”

Seegars said that people in general will say things that they regret later in the heat of a situation. She said he didn’t mean to offend the gay and lesbian community when he said the word “faggot.”

As a public official, Trantham is subject to disciplinary actions and could be censured or publicly reprimanded for his behavior. But, Seegars said that Trantham’s commission colleagues shouldn’t consider censuring him. “What good would that do?” she asks rhetorically. “Other commissioners have done things far more serious. Let the court deal with it and I am on his side.”