RALEIGH – In the following paragraphs, I’m going to give you many reasons why state Rep. Cecil Brockman of High Point should resign from the General Assembly, or at the very least be shown the door after the 2016 election.

Then, at the end, I’m going to tell you one reason that the first-term Democrat likely will keep his seat in the 120-member House if he doesn’t resign. (He has said he won’t.)

Brockman wasn’t wearing a seat belt, which is why state troopers said they stopped him recently as he was driving down Main Street in Archdale. Statistics show seat belt use reduces the risk of serious injury and death in crashes by half.

Brockman claimed he was just driving a short distance between two banks and that’s why he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. So the troopers just happened to catch him during that “simple mind lapse” – Brockman’s words – when he wasn’t buckled up? Hard to believe.

Strike one, Rep. Brockman.

According to the trooper’s dashboard camera video of the incident, it took Brockman a full minute to pull over as the trooper followed him with blue lights and sirens. No fewer than eight other cars on the same side of the road pulled over or slowed considerably. Brockman kept going with the trooper behind him, appearing to speed up on a couple of occasions. He even changed lanes to get around cars that were slowing down in front of him. Brockman said he didn’t see the trooper behind him until he pulled over. Very hard to believe.

“I don’t know why he was running,” one trooper says to the other.

“I don’t either,” the other responded.

Strike two, Rep. Brockman.

Brockman almost immediately told the trooper that he was a state representative, as if that made him different from any other person who gets stopped for a seat belt violation. He repeated the fact that he is a House member a few more times as he talked – at times belligerently – to troopers.

“This is silly for a state representative to literally get a ticket when he’s only traveling a few feet,” Brockman told troopers at the scene.

Strike three, Rep. Brockman.

Brockman said he didn’t have his vehicle registration in the car.

Strike four, Rep. Brockman.

Brockman asked the troopers for “everybody’s information right here,” which was pretty much a threat. They will pay for writing a ticket to a state representative.

Strike five, Rep. Brockman.

Brockman suggested that the troopers were giving him a ticket because he is African-American. “I think if I was a white representative, that you guys would have been like, ‘OK, I’m sorry, sir.’”

A big swing and a miss, Rep. Brockman. It’s people like you who make it more difficult for those with legitimate complaints about police to be taken seriously.

Just what we need, another politician who wants special treatment and is willing to threaten to throw his weight around if he doesn’t get his way. Maybe what we really need is more General Assembly candidates.

Not only is Brockman ignoring calls to resign, but he doesn’t – at least as of the time of this writing – have a primary or general election opponent in 2016. With a week left in the candidate filing period, Brockman is the only candidate for that seat.

On top of that, House District 60 is considered a “safe Democratic” seat because of the way the district lines are drawn. That means it would be almost impossible for a Republican to win there in 2016. Brockman won a Democratic primary in 2014, but wasn’t challenged that November.

Someone – anyone – please sign up to challenge him. The potential attack ads are never served up on a platter quite like this.

Patrick Gannon writes columns for the N.C. Press Association.