By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Meghan Cooke
Staff writers

Nick Mackey

Former state legislator and former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Nick Mackey was arrested and charged with drunken driving and with having a revoked license early Sunday, according to a Concord police report.

Mackey, a Charlotte attorney, is best known for a contentious and unsuccessful 2007 campaign for Mecklenburg County sheriff.

The report also suggests that Mackey asked the officer to charge him with a lesser offense because of his previous service as a police officer and tried to delay being given a test to see if he was impaired.

A Concord police officer pulled over Mackey's car near Concord Mills mall around 2:30 a.m. Sunday after police said Mackey's silver car drifted out of its lane and turned without signaling.

The responding officer's report says Mackey stopped in the middle of the travel lane. As a result, according to the report, two patrol cruisers were almost hit by another driver, who was ultimately charged with DWI.

The officer said that after Mackey rolled down the window, he could smell "an odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and a strong mint smell as well. The driver was unsteady on his feet when he got out of the vehicle."

The report also says "the driver had red glassy eyes, odor of alcohol coming from his breath and was rambling with his speech."

At one point, according to the report, Mackey said he had been a police officer for 14 years. "He asked as a courtesy if I could write him for revoked," the report says.

Mackey refused a portable breath test and any other roadside test, the report says. His blood was ultimately taken at the Cabarrus County jail, but a blood-alcohol content was not immediately available.

Mackey was released and his court date was set for Jan. 19. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Mackey has a history of legal and financial woes that made him a controversial candidate for sheriff and later, state representative.

There were allegations he resigned in 2003 from CMPD while under investigation for allegedly falsifying work hours. Mackey denied any wrongdoing. He filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

In a Democratic Party special election to replace former Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, officials elected Mackey over longtime Chief Deputy Sheriff Chip Bailey. But the state party nullified the election after finding that many precincts had been improperly organized.

County commissioners stepped in and appointed Bailey as sheriff in 2008. But in a political comeback later that year, Mackey was voted into the N.C. General Assembly.

After serving only one term as a state representative, Mackey lost his seat in the May 2010 primary race. That same month, the N.C. State Bar suspended Mackey's license for three years in a case officials said involved "acts of dishonesty" and "a pattern of misconduct."

The Bar reinstated Mackey's law license in June after he applied for a stay of the last two years of the suspension.

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