A video obtained by MLive shows how Michigan State lawmaker Rebekah Warren was arrested on Dec. 26 for DUI, saying “This will be the most famous arrest you’ve ever made.”
The video and police records were released under the Freedom of Information Act and published by the newspaper on Dec. 26, show a black Grand Cherokee Jeep swaying between lanes and even side-swiping a guard rail.
Police were alerted after receiving several 911 calls about a driver swerving on the northbound I-75. Auburn Hills Police officers tracked down the car, followed it, and pulled it over.
Officers identified the driver as Michigan State representative Rebekah Warren, who represents Ann Arbor as the 55th District in the State House.
Warren told police she was coming from an event at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, and that she was on her way home to Ann Arbor—at least, that’s what she thought. She was heading north from Detroit on the I-75, while her home is to the south of Detroit.
“I just don’t want this on camera for my future,” Democratic state Rep. Rebekah Warren said, according to Fox News. “It will ruin my career.”
Officers executed a couple of sobriety tests, which Warren failed. They then offered her a preliminary breathalyzer test, which she refused. That prompted deputies to arrest her and have blood samples taken from her at McLaren Hospital in Pontiac.
“You don’t understand, I’m elected,” Warren adds on the dashcam video while sitting cuffed in the back of the patrol car. “I’m a senator. Folks will be, like, the senator got arrested. That’ll be, like, (expletive). This is going to be the most famous arrest you’ve ever made.”
She then complains about being handcuffed, although she was not “aggressive.” Warren added, “I’m gonna put that on my list of things I should work on if I ever get the chance to actually fix my career. I’m not going to get the chance, but that’s OK,” she says about the handcuffing.
Apart from the oath, Warren was cooperative and friendly—but she did have some difficulty with counting.
“On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the drunkest you have ever been, and zero being sober, what would you say you’re at,” the officer had asked her before the arrest. “Three,” Warren responded.
She also admitted having had two or three glasses of red wine. Her BAC level showed .21 percent, almost thrice the legal limit of .08 percent, according to Michigan State Police. A level of .17 stands for “super drunk,” according to Michigan law.
Warren was arraigned on one misdemeanor count of operating while intoxicated with a blood alcohol content greater than 0.17 percent on Thursday, Oakland County District Court records show.
