JEFFERSON CITY (AP) -- A newly released jail videotape from 1997 shows former state Rep. Phil Tate confronting and cursing the Missouri trooper who had just arrested him for drunken driving.
At one point, an angry Tate curses as he rushes the trooper and jabs his finger in the officer's chest, then swats aside his DWI ticket before the men are separated.
Tate then berates the trooper, Quinn Lewis, saying: ''I have kissed your a-- all night long, young man.''
Tate, who resigned his House seat six months after his arrest to take a high-level job with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, also mentioned to the trooper his acquaintance with the Highway Patrol's then-superintendent.
Lewis, now a patrol corporal based in Jefferson City, remained calm throughout his Cole County courthouse encounter with Tate during the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1997.
The sheriff's videotape of Tate's behavior during booking was released after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week that such videotapes are public records.
The ruling arose from Jefferson City television station KRCG's request for another Cole County booking videotape, this one showing the April 1997 DWI arrest of state Rep. Mark Richardson.
Hemeyer released videotapes of both arrests, saying he wanted to comply fully with the court order.
Richardson is a Republican; Tate, of Gallatin, is a Democrat, as is the sheriff.
Tate eventually pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor drunken driving charge, received two years probation and publicly apologized to people in the northern Missouri district he represented for six terms.
In August 1997, Tate resigned from the Legislature to join the Department of Economic Development.
As director of business expansion and attractions, Tate is paid $71,794 annually to recruit jobs to Missouri.
Soon after his guilty plea, the St. Joseph News-Press reported on Tate's behavior in custody, citing an arrest report. But Tate told the newspaper at the time that he wasn't aggressive and didn't have to be held back.
The videotape tells a different story.
''I need to get your fingerprints,'' Lewis tells Tate. ''Are you kidding me?'' Tate exclaims.
During his fingerprinting, Tate jerks away from the officer, whom he accuses of ''grabbing me all night.''
''What's the deal there? You nervous?'' Tate demands of Lewis. ''You got a nervous tic or something?''
Tate argues with officers about whether he can be charged with carrying a concealed weapon -- a loaded pistol they discovered under his wrecked car's hatchback (he wasn't charged).
Tate, who refuses a breath test for alcohol, also demands to know why he is charged with drunken driving.
''Based on my observations and your condition,'' Lewis replies.
Tate repeatedly refuses a mug shot, at one point tossing aside a chest-level prisoner identification sign. Tate relents when allowed to pose without the sign.
He seems momentarily contrite: ''I am terribly embarrassed. I have really, really disappointed a lot of people.''
But after two lawyers arrive, Tate grows impatient and surly.
''Let's get out of here,'' Tate snaps.
Lewis tries to hand Tate's ticket to his attorney, but Tate swats the ticket to the floor and declares, ''I don't give a s--- about that.''
The men are separated as Tate continues shouting: ''I have kissed your a-- all night long, young man ... I have tried to be a gentleman all night long.''
Lewis, a seven-year patrol veteran and former bodyguard for Tate's ultimate boss, Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, said Friday that he held no grudge.
''I arrest drunks all the time,'' Lewis said. ''After my job is done, the situation is done.''
Tate said Friday that Lewis ''acted in a completely professional manner. I thought several times that I owe him an apology.''
No apology has come. But Lewis said with a smile and a shrug: ''No other person I have arrested has ever apologized to me.''
Economic Development Director Joe Driskill said he knew about Tate's DWI arrest when he hired him, and that Tate has ''done a very good job of representing the state.''
The details of the videotape's contents are ''old news,'' Tate said. But Tate added that if the tape's disclosure embarrassed Carnahan and the governor asked him to leave, ''I would do it in a heartbeat.''
Carnahan's spokesman said the governor hadn't seen the videotape and had no comment.
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