Councilwoman Karen Toles

It was surprising to hear that someone would drive 105 miles-per-hour down the Beltway. It was even more surprising to hear that it was Karen Toles, a freshman member of the Prince George’s County Council. But was it surprising that she only got a warning for the offense? Not according to police.

The Post reports that the the officer who pulled Toles over on February 22 didn’t have a properly calibrated speed gun nor was able to pace her to actually determine her speed, even though he had to drive 108 miles-per-hour just to catch up to her and pull her over. When he did, she was cited for improperly changing lanes, but only warned for the speeding offense:

[Prince George’s Assistant Police Chief Kevin] Davis said Wednesday that the actions of all of the officers on the scene would be reviewed by commanders and the police department’s new inspector general, though preliminarily, it seems the ticket and warning were appropriate. He said that while the officer’s in-car camera shows his cruiser traveled more than 100 miles per hour during the incident, the cruiser’s equipment was not properly calibrated because the officer normally works in an administrative job.

The officer, Davis said, felt he did not have probable cause to cite Toles for speeding, saying that even with traffic tickets, officers are taught to “err on the side of caution.” He said that were the officer to have cited Toles for speeding, he would have had to defend that citation in court.

Law enforcement sources have said that on Toles’s warning, the officer wrote that the councilwoman was traveling 105 miles per hour.

In the wake of the incident, the Examiner reports that Toles has given up her county-issued car while she takes a driver safety course. According to court records, this wasn’t the first time she was cited for unsafe driving.

Prince George’s County police have said that they will establish an investigative panel to determine if Toles’ citation was appropriate.