Lawmaker Arrested On Drunk Driving Complaint

Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 11:13 am

By: News On 6

HUGO, Okla. (AP) -- State Senator Jeff Rabon was arrested on a drunken driving complaint Monday evening after a multi-car accident, authorities said. Choctaw County Sheriff Lewis Collins says Rabon was booked into the Choctaw County jail and released on a $1,000 bond.

The accident, which did involve injuries, occurred Monday night in Hugo, and Rabon was arrested by a Hugo police officer, Collins said.

"He was involved in a multi-car accident last night, but I don't have the particulars," Collins said.

Hugo City Manager David Rawles says the three-car accident happened along U.S. Highway 70 near the Kiamichi Technology Center's Hugo campus. Rawles says he does not know if Rabon took a breathalyzer test but says the legislator failed a field sobriety test at the scene.

In 2005, a state trooper was disciplined for not investigating whether alcohol was involved in a Labor Day weekend accident in which Rabon's truck ended up in a ditch.

Last year, Rabon authored a bill to impose stiff jail sentences for repeatedly selling alcohol to anyone under 21 years old. The bill allowed prison sentences of up to five years and fines of up to $5,000 for servers or clerks caught repeatedly selling beer or other alcohol to minors.

Earlier this year, Rabon authored a measure that would make it illegal for anyone under 18 to sell or give low-point beer to anyone in a place where low-point beer is sold for consumption off premises. The bill stalled in a Senate committee.