In some new entertainment out of the formerly Golden State of California, a California state lawmaker in the Democratic party, the lawmaker who chaired the party’s powerful Latino bloc until late 2024, was detained by Sacramento police officers on the afternoon of Monday, May 19, with officers claiming she was driving drunk.
The incident apparently occurred in the mid-afternoon, around 1:30 pm. It was precipitated by a collision in which State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, the arrested Democrat, was involved. After the accident but before police arrived, she was apparently transferred to a hospital by a friend to treat her “minor injuries,” the police said. When the police arrived at the hospital, they found Cervantes drunk, allegedly, and placed her under arrest for a DUI.
Describing that to Fox News Digital, the Sacramento Police Department said, “Officers also responded to Sen. Cervantes at the hospital as part of the investigation. Responding officers contacted Sen. Cervantes, where they observed objective signs of intoxication and conducted a DUI investigation. From their investigation, officers issued Sen. Cervantes a citation for suspicion of DUI.”
Cervantes, for her part, told Fox News Digital that she was in the clear and that the hospital cleared her of wrongdoing, saying, “I want to be clear: I did nothing wrong. The lab results I sought in the hospital show conclusively I had no alcohol or drugs in my system. I expect this to be quickly and justly resolved.”
Similarly, Politico reported that Cervantes said in a statement that she was in the emergency room after getting t-boned by a sedan, and it was as she was getting care that the police arrived and “accosted her.” She reportedly said, “I was accosted by Sacramento Police Department officers, [who] falsely accused of driving under the influence, and involuntarily detained for several hours at the hospital.”
Politico adds that the state senator went on to blame the police officers for feeling “shaken” after the accident, saying, “This ordeal was deeply distressing and left me even more shaken. As a Senator, wife, and mother, I hold myself to the highest standard and expect others that serve our communities to do the same.”
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office is reportedly waiting to see what its toxicology report says before making a decision either way. It told Fox News Digital: “Our office is waiting on toxicology results to be completed. Once we have received those reports, all of the facts in the case will be reviewed for a filing decision. Until then, we will reserve any further comments.”
This isn’t the first political DUI in the Cervantes family. Clarissa Cervantes, sister of the state senator and then a city councilmember, was arrested for DUI in 2015. She said, at the time, “I regrettably made the worst decision of my life when I was in my early 20’s, which was to drive after drinking one evening. At the time, I was coming out of a domestic abusive relationship that had severely impacted my mental and physical health.”
Featured image credit: State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes’ website
