It was a relatively routine car crash that happened near the Capitol.
Sacramento Police had already cited the other driver for causing the accident, but now they needed to talk to the victim, who was now at the hospital: State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside. That interview ended in her citation for suspected driving under the influence, a warrant and, ultimately, two clean DUI blood tests proving that the senator was completely innocent of the trumped up accusations made by police that day.
The Sacramento Police officers who responded to the minor traffic accident on May 19 involving Cervantes clearly misrepresented her to the public and in the recently released warrant application. They created headlines that damaged her political career and opened themselves up to questions of ethnically-profiling a Latina legislator.
Right now, in California, Latinos feel targeted by law enforcement for simply looking Latino. What happened to Cervantes in Sacramento is on the same spectrum as what’s happening to people of her community in California as a whole.
Cervantes was the victim of an accident, yet she was treated as a criminal. Her name will now forever be linked to a false DUI accusation.
While the city’s police department has refused to release any body camera footage or other reports, CalMatters obtained a copy of the search warrant that was filed with a judge authorizing police to perform a DUI blood test some hours after the incident.
Cervantes’ lawyer, San...
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