A Texas lawmaker made a fool of herself after failing a number of sobriety tests when she was pulled over for drunk driving for a second time.
Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, 43, was stopped by police in San Antonio last month and arrested for DWI after failing the roadside tests.
On Wednesday, she acknowledged that in 2010 she had faced a similar charge. She was later acquitted and had the charge expunged.
Footage released this week by the San Antonio Police Department showed the interaction she had with an officer after clubbing in the city’s downtown.
The officer can be seen pulling Gonzalez, a District Eight councilwoman, over just after 11 pm on July 24 and explaining the reason for the traffic stop.
The officer asked her if she had been drinking and Gonzalez responded, ‘I’m good,’ after saying that she had been travelling home.
Gonzalez was then asked to step out of the vehicle and perform a series of sobriety tests, which she failed spectacularly .
The first involved her following a green light in the officer’s hand with her eyes without moving her head.
Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, 43, was stopped by police in San Antonio last month and arrested for DWI after failing the roadside tests
The above image shows Gonzalez attempting to walk in a straight line for nine steps – but she failed to follow the instructions
While turning her head, the officer reminded her: ‘Follow the green light with your eyes only.’
The officer then asked if she had any mobility issues, to which she confirmed she did not.
He asked her to walk in a straight line, taking nine ‘heel-to-toe’ steps toward his vehicle, before doing the same in the opposite direction.
The officer went to some length to describe exactly what he wanted, but Gonzalez took 14 steps instead.
‘Do you remember the test or the instructions’, the officer asked her as she turned around and took 21 steps – 12 more than instructed – in the opposite direction.
Clearly annoyed, the officer continued: ‘Ma’am, do you remember how many steps I asked you to take?’ She replied ‘nine’ but admitted she didn’t count.
In Gonzalez’s third test, she was told to take one leg, lift it and keep it in the air for 30 seconds while also keeping her leg six inches from the ground.
After lifting her right foot, she proceeded to touch the ground three times in the first few seconds of the clip.
In her third test, Gonzalez was told to take one leg, lift it and keep it in the air for 30 seconds while also keeping the leg six inches from the ground
After being put in custody, an officer asked Gonzalez for a sample of her breath or blood, but she refused
She was then asked to walk toward the bumper of the police cruiser when the officer administered another green light test.
The officer asked her again if she had any alcohol that night. She again said she did not, and the video concluded as she was placed under arrest.
Over the course of the nearly 19-minute video, Gonzalez denied at least eight times that she had been drinking.
According to an arrest warrant, Gonzalez had ‘watery, glossy eyes’ and a ‘moderate odor of intoxicant’.
Court records said Gonzalez was booked into the Bexar County jail on a $1,000 bond before being released.
After being taken into custody, an officer asked Gonzalez for a sample of her breath or blood, but she refused.
Officers were then compelled to seek a warrant, on the grounds that the lawmaker was attempting to conceal evidence of intoxication.
On Wednesday, Gonzalez acknowledged that in 2010 she had also faced a similar charge of DWI-open container
According to Gonzalez’s LinkedIn, she studied at the University of Texas at San Antonio before getting her law degree from St. Mary’s University.
In a statement on August 8, prior to the video being released, she said: ‘The video does not find me at my finest moment.
‘I regret not being more forthcoming with the officer. I was overwhelmed – nervous, embarrassed, and, to be frank, afraid.’
On November 6, 2022, Clayton Perry, then the District 10 Councilman, was arrested after allegedly drinking 14 drinks in a four-hour period at a North Side bar.
He then drove into another car at an intersection, fled the scene and was found later in his backyard.
Then, on December 29, 2023, the current District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte was pulled over by San Antonio police after, they said, he was speeding and didn’t properly signal a lane change.
Whyte admitted to having consumed three alcoholic beverages, and was arrested after taking field sobriety tests.
He was arrested on a DWI charge and later pleaded guilty to a non-DWI charge.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .