The Democratic National Committee (DNC) issued a hasty apology Tuesday after one of its campaign buses was caught dumping human waste from its bathroom into a storm drain.
The incident occurred in Lawrenceville, Georgia, an outer suburb of Atlanta. Local citizen Mike Robins saw a DNC bus bearing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign slogan, “Forward Together,” pull up by the curb and start dumping its waste right into a storm drain.
Robins snapped several photos of liquid pouring out of the bus’s underside and turned them over to the local press, which quickly posted them online.
.@CityofLville cops investigating claims that #Hillary #ForwardTogether bus dumped human waste into storm drain. Follow @cbs46 for updates. pic.twitter.com/xyBnfaMy7n
— Rebekka Schramm (@SchrammCBS46) October 18, 2016
Police soon arrived on the scene and discovered fragments of toilet paper along with the strong stench of human waste, according to local CBS46 news. A HAZMAT team was subsequently deployed to clean up the foul-smelling scene.
“I was like, ‘What the heck? Are you kidding me?'” Robins told WSBTV. “It’s one thing if you get some jackleg coming through in an old RV. But to see a campaign bus with people’s pictures and names all over it stop and do it,” Robins said.
As it happens, egregiously dumping waste is a violation of Georgia state law, and potentially a severe one. Under Georgia’s criminal code, egregiously dumping litter is an aggravated misdemeanor. If the dumping includes biomedical waste or other hazardous waste, it is a felony carrying a fine of up to $25,000 and a prison sentence of up to five years.
Nevertheless, the DNC issued a statement declaring the whole thing a simple error.
“This was an honest mistake and we apologize to the Lawrenceville community for any harm we may have caused,” the DNC said in a statement to CBS46. “We were unaware of any possible violations and have already taken corrective action with the charter bus company to prevent this from happening again. Furthermore, the DNC will work with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, as well as local and state officials to determine the best course of corrective action.”
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