NC Rep. Madison Cawthorn is charged with driving with revoked license
Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been charged with driving with a revoked license, a misdemeanor that carries up to 20 days in jail.
The 26-year-old Henderson County Republican was pulled over March 3 in Cleveland County – about an hour-and-a-half southeast of Asheville – by the highway patrol, according to court records and a highway patrol spokesperson.
Along with the misdemeanor, Cawthorn is facing two pending citations for speeding in different counties.
Highway patrol spokesperson Sgt. Marcus Bethea said March 9 he could “confirm that the three citation numbers” are pending matters in Buncombe, Polk and Cleveland counties. ”
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The Cleveland County stop happened around Shelby, according to Bethea and a court copy of the citation.
Trooper Tyler Gantt saw a 2019 Toyota Truck cross the center line on US 74B and pulled it over at 10:26 am, Bethea said.
“The driver was identified as David Madison Cawthorn, 26 years old of Hendersonville, NC,” he said.
“During the course of the investigation it was determined that the driver’s license was in a state of revocation and he was subsequently charged with driving while license revoked.”
In the citation Gantt noted the weather was clear and traffic was light and that Cawthorn “was very polite and cooperative.”
The Citizen Times has reached out to Cawthorn spokesperson Luke Ball.
The first of the traffic stops for the speeding citations happened on Oct. 18 on Interstate 40 near Swannanoa in Buncombe County. A trooper said Cawthorn was going 89 mph in a 65-mph zone.
In Polk, a trooper stopped Cawthorn on Jan. 8 on US 74 after saying he clocked him at 87 mph in a 70-mph zone.
In both cases he was driving a 2009 Dodge “passenger vehicle,” Bethea said.
Asked to confirm that Cawthorn had his license during the speeding stops – which preceded the stop in which he was charged for driving with a revoked license – Bethea said the information he provided March 9 was the extent of what he could provide that day.
The court date for the misdemeanor is May 6. The Polk County speeding citation is set to be heard April 18 with the Buncombe citation on May 3.
Cawthorn has been charged before with driving after having his license taken away. Before he was a US House member, a 2017 charge of driving while license revoked was dismissed in Buncombe, court records show.
Driving with a revoked license is considered a Class 3 misdemeanor in North Carolina and carries a maximum sentence of 20 days in jail, though the punishment is usually a fine or probation.
Cawthorn uses a wheelchair after being seriously injured in a 2014 car accident in Florida. A friend who was driving fell asleep while Cawthorn slept in the passenger seat, according to his 2019 federal court filing against the insurance company.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He’s written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.