MARTINEZ – State Assemblyman Roger Hernandez repeatedly refused to take a breath or blood test after his drunken-driving arrest in March, which prompted Concord police to prepare to have the local lawmaker’s blood forcibly drawn, the arresting officer testified Wednesday.
After warning Hernandez, D-West Covina, that refusing a test could result in his driver’s license being suspended or revoked, officers at the Concord police station pulled out a padded floor mat and told Hernandez that they were going to handcuff him and hold him down so that a phlebotomist could take a blood sample. That’s when Hernandez submitted to the test, “saying that he wouldn’t fight us,” Officer Mike Roberts said.
Roberts was the first witness to take the stand at the misdemeanor trial where Hernandez stands accused of driving with a 0.08 blood-alcohol level – the minimum level for a DUI arrest – in Concord, about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, on March 27.
Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Mary Ann O’Malley has previously ruled that the jury will not hear that Hernandez is a politician or that he was driving a state-issued Toyota Camry at the time of his arrest…Read More
