Krista Perez broke down in a patrol car after refusing sobriety tests during her August DUI arrest in Tacoma.
The Washington state House candidate, who advanced from last month’s primary in the 29th Legislative District, was filmed sobbing and praying following a midnight collision that damaged five vehicles on South G Street. Perez, a Democrat running for Position 1 against incumbent state Rep. Melanie Morgan, now faces DUI charges with a refusal enhancement tied to the incident.
Body camera footage obtained by The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red captures the moments after police arrived at the August 11 crash scene. Perez initially told an officer she did not understand what was happening and denied being involved in an accident.
“Did you get into an accident here?” the officer asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in an accident before,” she replied.
Perez said she had been driving from a friend’s business on Tacoma Avenue South when the collision occurred. When questioned about drinking, she admitted to consuming wine at the location.
“Did you have anything to drink tonight?” the officer asked.
“I just had some wine while I was there,” Perez replied.
She claimed to have had only one glass. Asked to describe the size, she told the officer, “I think you might need to contact the business.”
The officer then requested she rate her sobriety on a scale of zero to ten, with zero representing complete sobriety. Perez first responded that she wanted to go home. When pressed a second time, she rated herself a four.
She repeatedly declined standardized field sobriety tests, which the officer emphasized were voluntary. “So it’s a series of tests that I take you through to make sure to see if you’re impaired by alcohol, or you’re not. Are you okay with doing that? It’s totally voluntary,” he said.
Perez kept insisting she wanted to go home, telling the officer she was “confused.”
“Not right now. I’d like to go home first,” she said.
The officer made clear she would not be going home. “You’re not going to go home first. I’m going to tell you that right now, okay? So your options between the test, yes or no, that’s going to be determined tonight, right now, not when you go home. So would you like to take these tests or no?” he asked.
Perez questioned whether she could decline. The officer confirmed she had a choice, stating the tests were “totally voluntary.”
“Yeah, I would like to go home first,” she replied.
When asked if this meant she was refusing, she said yes. The officer then placed her under arrest for DUI.
“Hold on. Hold on. One second. Hold on,” she said as she was being taken into custody.
Perez repeatedly told the officer that she did “not know what any of this means.” He informed her it meant she was under arrest for DUI.
Under Washington state law, roadside sobriety tests are not mandatory, and declining them is separate from the refusal enhancement prosecutors have alleged. According to an arrest report cited by The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red, that enhancement stems from Perez’s conduct at Tacoma Police headquarters, where police said she failed to provide a usable breath sample after three attempts before the machine timed out.
Inside the patrol car, footage shows her crying for several minutes while praying aloud. “Help me, God. Help me. Help me. Holy Spirit, help me, God,” she said.
The incident has drawn attention to how Washington state handles DUI cases involving elected officials and candidates. State law does not prohibit someone with a DUI charge from serving in the legislature. Other Democratic lawmakers have retained their seats after alcohol-related incidents, including House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, who apologized earlier this year after acknowledging he drank alcohol before a House Appropriations Committee hearing in February.
“I made a poor choice last night by drinking alcohol before we had finished our work for the day. I am disappointed in myself and take responsibility for that poor choice. It won’t happen again, and I’m committed to completing my work this session without alcohol,” Fitzgibbon said in a statement at the time to The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red.
Perez finished first in the primary for the 29th Legislative District and will face Morgan in the November general election as the top two candidates advance.