Nevada state senator faces DUI charge, says he wasn’t impaired
A Nevada state senator faces a DUI charge after police found him asleep behind the wheel while stopped at a traffic signal early Friday morning, though he claims he was unimpaired.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Sen. Edgar Flores, D-Las Vegas, after he was found asleep at a traffic light on North Lamb and East Lake Mead boulevards at 4 a.m. with the vehicle running and keys in the ignition, according to police.
Police said they made several attempts to wake him but he appeared “confused and disoriented, looking side to side without focus,” according to the impaired driving report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Flores’ campaign said in a statement released on social media that he was stopped Friday “after a long day of work, community events, evening exercise and a late dinner.”
His campaign said in the statement he fully cooperated with law enforcement and voluntarily submitted to both a breathalyzer and a blood test at the station. His campaign claimed the breathalyzer confirmed his blood alcohol concentration was at zero and is confident the blood test will show the same results.
Police allege he refused a preliminary breath test at the scene, according to the report.
Flores’ eyes appeared droopy, and the police officer detected a “slight odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath,” according to the report. Flores allegedly told police he consumed one Michelob beer around midnight at PT’s Pub.
He agreed to standardized field sobriety tests and performed some tests accurately, such as the finger-to-nose test and the “modified Romberg balance” test, according to the police report. He swayed and used his arms for balance on the one-leg stand, according to police.
Flores did not immediately return a request for comment.
“The Senator acknowledges he was tired,” the campaign wrote. “While he and his team respect the officers’ diligence in ensuring public safety, our campaign is also reviewing whether his rights and privacy were properly respected.”
Flores was released the same day as his arrest. A status check on the filing of a criminal complaint is scheduled for Jan. 12, according to court records.
The longtime state lawmaker was first elected to the Nevada Senate in November 2022, and he previously served in the Nevada Assembly between 2015 and 2021. Flores is an immigration attorney and attended UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.
“Senator Flores remains fully focused on serving the community, as he has for more than 10 years as an Assemblyman, State Senator and Immigration Attorney,” his campaign said in the statement.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.