Democrat allegedly caught driving 107 mph cites 'legislative privilege' as the reason she can't be punished

Ellen Read, a Democratic member of New Hampshire's House of Representatives, appears to have a lead foot.Read was twice stopped for speeding down Interstate 93 in recent years — once on Dec. 2, 2024, allegedly going 107 mph, and again on June 5, 2025, allegedly going 92 mph, according to court records reviewed by the Boston Globe.'It isn't diplomatic immunity.'Read, the same leftist lawmaker who solicited the Satanic Temple's Baphomet display at the state house ahead of Christmas 2024, apparently has some confusion over whether the traffic laws her constituents have to obey similarly apply to her.The Democrat is urging the New Hampshire Supreme Court to permit her to appeal her speeding tickets partly on the grounds that she supposedly cannot be stopped and ticketed because of "legislative privilege."Read's legal representative, Dana Albrecht, suggested in a recent petition to the state's high court that the Democrat's speeding before or after being at the state house is akin to a police officer or EMT flouting speed limits while rushing to an emergency."A law enforcement officer who exceeds the speed limit en route to an emergency is not prosecuted — not because officers are above the law, but because the conduct is analyzed in light of the official function," wrote Albrecht, who is not an attorney. "An emergency medical technician who runs a red light to reach a patient is judged by the same functional standard.""The question presented is whether a sitting legislator, traveling to or from the General Court in the exercise of a privilege expressly conferred by N.H. Const. pt. II, art. 21, is entitled to the same analysis — not greater protection, but equal protection," wrote Albrecht.RELATED: Democrats’ Maine mess puts insiders back in charge Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesThe New Hampshire Constitution states that "no member of the House of Representatives, or Senate shall be arrested, or held to bail, on mesne process, during his going to, returning from, or attendance upon, the Court."New Hampshire state Rep. Mike Belcher (R) told Blaze News, "It's a terrible misrepresentation of the provision. It exists to prevent coercion of lawmakers regarding their business. It isn't diplomatic immunity.""I don’t think anyone in the general public believes that just because a state rep is traveling to or from session that they are immune to committing any violation or crime," Major Christopher Bashaw of the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office told the Globe. "That would be absurd to think that somebody could cause an accident and kill somebody and not be held accountable."When pulled over in 2024 after allegedly being clocked going 107 mph in her Toyota Yaris through a 65-mph zone, Read told a deputy that she was headed home to Woburn, Massachusetts, after serving in her legislative capacity at the state house, said Bashaw.Even though driving over 100 mph constitutes possible evidence of reckless operation, an arrestable offense, Bashaw told the Globe that Read was only issued a citation and permitted to leave.While she was not arrested, Read — who has reportedly raked in a small fortune via mileage reimbursement claims allegedly including for days when the House was not in session, her committee had no meetings, and/or she appears to have been absent — has nevertheless framed the traffic stop and associated charges as violations of the state constitution regarding lawmakers' unhindered travel to and from the legislature.Last year, Read tried unsuccessfully to have the charge for the 2024 incident — where she had been found guilty of negligent driving, fined, and threatened with having her driver's license suspended pending another speeding violation within two years — thrown out. She has kept the fight against accountability alive, however.In April 2026, Albrecht filed a petition with the New Hampshire Supreme Court relating primarily to the June 2025 incident where a different deputy allegedly caught Read driving 92 mph in a 65-mph zone. Read allegedly berated the deputy and claimed the deputy lacked the authority to stop her, Bashaw said.The petition, which reportedly leaned on the argument in the new filing that state lawmakers are shielded from traffic stops, was denied last month, but Albrecht subsequently filed a petition asking the New Hampshire Supreme Court to reconsider.If the state's high court doesn't spare the Democrat from accountability, then she could potentially lose her license. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12 to assess the deferred component of her sentence in the 2024 case.Read told Blaze News that it is "fallacious to say the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. There was a motion to VACATE to the Supreme Court because of the inability to get a fair trial in district court."She noted further that while the constitutional provision was mentioned in her case, "AT NO POINT has anyone anywhere attempted to argue that this provision protects the legislator from a ticket or arrest or prosecution ... or even stopped up until the person is identified as a legislator on their way to session. It does not."According to Read, "A legislator can still be pulled over until the situation is assessed ... and ticketed, arrested, or prosecuted, once they arrive at their destination and are no longer commuting to and from duties."The Democrat — who said her Toyota Yaris "cannot go 107 mph" — acknowledged, however, that her legal representative has argued the constitutionality of the stop "as part of the defense against a retaliatory and unsubstantiated 107-miles-an-hour reckless driving charge."Like Blaze News? 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