U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is above the law, as St. Helena, California residents learned last month.

Local Paul Smith wrote in to the St. Helena Star in June to describe Pelosi’s recent shoe shopping excursion at a fancy boutique, prompting a response from police chief Bill Imboden about the former House Speaker’s special status.

“Last Saturday afternoon (June 4) I’m standing on the west side of Main Street directly across from the Hunt Avenue intersection chatting with friends. Of course, traffic was heavy in both directions,” Smith wrote.

“A large perfectly polished and gleaming black SUV is attempting a left turn from Hunt onto southbound Main (not easy). Suddenly blue/red lights are flashing from the windshield area of the SUV (like you would see in an official fire/police vehicle),” he continued. “I said to my friends, I’ve never seen that before on a ‘regular’ vehicle and I’d think that’s illegal and dangerous. They agreed.”

That’s when the large black SUV jolted across two lanes of traffic, lights flashing, to park in front of a fire hydrant at the high end shoe boutique Footcandy.

“A St. Helena police car happens to be going northbound and pulls into the center lane and the officer starts shaking his arm and hollering at the driver of the SUV. While this goes on a man exits the SUV assisting a woman from the vehicle. She dashes off to Footcandy while he waits by the SUV in the red zone,” Smith explained.

The police officer then drove off without confronting the driver, he wrote.

“My friends and I are puzzled, say goodbye and I walk south on Main. As I approach Footcandy, Nancy Pelosi comes out with her shopping bags and the man assists her into the awaiting SUV. The SUV, with lights flashing, bursts back into southbound traffic,” Smith said.

“Wow! Privilege? Power? Whose SUV, taxpayers?” he questioned. “Say it ain’t so, Nancy.”

The Star contacted Imboden about the episode.

Imboden responded:

The St. Helena Police Department has received similar complaints in the past, and on occasion we come across a scenario like what is mentioned in the complaint. Unfortunately local law enforcement has no authority to prevent this type of activity. The U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Secret Service provide dignitary protection for certain high-ranking members of the Federal Government, and this protection comes with the discretion to violate some state and local laws (illegal U-turns, parking in a red zone) under the guise of providing the best possible protection to the dignitary. In the case of Congresswoman Pelosi, she receives her protection detail from the Capitol Police. As the Chief of Police in St. Helena I can assure you we don’t like or condone their behavior, but I can tell you from personal experience that while they sympathize with the position they put us in, they will not alter their tactics to appease us.

Anyone who wishes to lodge a complaint about Congresswoman Pelosi can email her at the following website: pelosi.house.gov.

You can also lodge a complaint with the protection agency at: U.S. Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility — OPR@uscp.gov.

“This didn’t look like any official business to me,” Smith told the San Francisco Chronicle, which confirmed the high security shopping trip with Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill.

Hammill, of course, insisted that Pelosi’s entourage “always complies with appropriate laws and regulations.”

Twitchy pointed out Tuesday that Pelosi’s special treatment is another example of “the double standard that benefits Democrat politicians to whom laws simply don’t apply” that’s similar to the recent decision by the FBI not to recommend criminal charges against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton over her use of a private unsecured email server for official government business.

Clinton is expected to escape criminal charges for her “extremely careless” handling of classified information, despite the fact that the Department of Justice has prosecuted military personnel for very similar, less critical, offenses, the Daily Caller reports.