20 Mar 2013
State Representative Naomi Gonzalez was arrested last week and charged with driving while intoxicated. While the case is ongoing, the arrest is an unexpected blemish on the record of Gonzalez, who the Mexican-American Caucus named freshman of the year last term. Here’s what allegedly happened, according to the arrest affidavit. Gonzalez was driving south on Congress Avenue at about 2:00 a.m. on Thursday. Police say her car struck another vehicle from behind, then pushed that vehicle into a passing bicyclist. Gonzalez, the woman on the bicycle and a passenger in the other vehicle were taken to the hospital, all having suffered what were described as minor injuries. Gonzalez was taken into custody a few hours later. There are some specific details in the affidavit that bear mentioning, including:
- Gonzalez’ speech was slurred, and her eyes were bloodshot and glassy.
- The odor of alcohol could be detected from four feet away.
- While the news report says she failed several field sobriety tests, the affidavit focuses on her apparent inability to count backwards from 67 to 42.
- She admitted drinking one beer and one old fashioned in a period of one hour prior to the accident.
- Most importantly, the affidavit says that Gonzalez’ blood alcohol concentration (BAC), based upon a blood draw, was 0.164. That’s more than twice the legal limit in Texas.
- Gonzalez also allegedly told the officer she had taken medication at some point prior to the crash.
So what does all this mean for the case against Gonzalez? First, while a simple DWI with no aggravating factors is ordinarily a class B misdemeanor, where your BAC is 0.15 or more, it becomes a class A misdemeanor. She therefore faces potentially increased penalties. Second, while the injuries to the bicyclist and the passenger were described in the report as minor, if any of the injuries turns out to be “serious” (creating a substantial risk of death, disfigurement or impairment of a bodily member or organ), then the charges could include intoxication assault, a third degree felony. Newspaper accounts of the incident say that Gonzalez responded to the charges on her Facebook page, but the page is not currently available. We’ll follow the case to see how it turns out.
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