NH Democrat Clocked at 107 MPH Says Constitution Bars Traffic Stops for Lawmakers

New Hampshire state Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, is fighting two speeding cases with an argument you don't hear every day: the state constitution says police weren't allowed to stop her.

The first stop happened December 2, 2024. A Rockingham County sheriff's deputy clocked Read's Toyota Yaris going 107 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 93 in Windham, according to Magic 96.7. She was cited but not arrested. A second stop followed in June 2025, when deputies accused her of driving 92 mph in a 65 mph zone in Londonderry, according to Resist the Mainstream.

Read's defense rests on Part II, Article 21 of the New Hampshire Constitution, a provision dating to 1784 that says no member of the House or Senate 'shall be arrested, or held to bail' while traveling to, attending, or returning from the General Court. Her attorney, former state representative Daniel P. Hynes, argued evidence from the stops was 'illegally obtained' and that both cases should be dismissed under legislative privilege.

There's a wrinkle Magic 96.7 flagged that matters here: during the December 2024 stop, Read wasn't heading to or from the State House. Authorities say she was driving from Concord toward her workplace in Woburn, Massachusetts, not to a legislative session. Major Christopher Bashaw of the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office said Read told the deputy she was traveling from the State House after serving in her legislative capacity, but the destination cited in court records is a private job, not the legislature.

Read disputes that her argument amounts to placing herself above the law. She told Fox News Digital that 'the plain reading of the Constitution says that legislators cannot be stopped on their way to or from their duties,' but added the provision 'says nothing of being ticketed or arrested at the end of the commute, and nothing about prosecution.' Her filings compare her situation to police officers or EMTs who may exceed speed limits while on official duty. Court records, however, don't identify any emergency requiring speeds over 100 mph, and Read was not responding to any legislative emergency.

A judge wasn't persuaded. Read was found guilty of negligent driving, a noncriminal violation, following an August 2025 bench trial in the first case. She was fined $1,240, with half deferred, and can keep her license if she completes a safe-driving course, avoids moving violations for two years, and meets other conditions. A hearing is scheduled for August 12, 2026 to review that deferred portion of the sentence.

Read asked the New Hampshire Supreme Court to weigh in on the constitutional question before her second case moved forward. The court declined in June 2026 to hear the appeal at this stage, according to Magic 96.7. The second case, over the alleged 92 mph stop, still needs to be rescheduled for a bench trial after the presiding judge recused himself in April.

There's a significant issue underlying the case itself. There's no video of either stop, according to Fox News Digital, because the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office doesn't use body cameras or dashboard cameras at all. Major Bashaw told Fox News Digital the agency lacks the funding to buy them, adding 'we don't have that either' when asked directly, and said the office would like to equip deputies with the technology if it could.

New Hampshire actually set up a mechanism for this. Lawmakers created a Body-Worn and Dashboard Camera Fund in 2021 to give matching grants to local agencies for buying cameras and covering data storage and maintenance. Every local law enforcement agency is eligible. It's unclear whether Rockingham County has ever applied, according to Fox News Digital. State law requires agencies that do deploy cameras to have policies on when officers must record stops, but it does not mandate that any agency buy or use the equipment in the first place.

That funding gap is a legitimate concern on its own, separate from Read's constitutional theory. Without footage, the public is left relying entirely on deputy accounts and court filings to know what actually happened on I-93. Read told Fox News Digital she has consistently supported body-camera legislation and funding, and said she'd be willing to help the sheriff's office secure money for cameras in the next state budget.

Read is running for reelection. Whether voters in Newmarket see the constitutional argument as a genuine legal question about 18th-century legislative-privilege language, or as a Democrat lawmaker trying to talk her way out of a 107 mph ticket, is now something they'll have to decide alongside the courts. The second speeding case still awaits a new trial date, and the August 12 hearing will determine whether Read keeps her license under the terms of last year's sentence.