Lawmaker Arrested On DUI Complaint

Monday, April 2nd 2007, 6:05 am

By: News On 6

A state lawmaker was arrested for driving under the influence. State Representative John Trebilcock spent several hours in jail early Saturday after his drunk driving arrest. He represents Broken Arrow in the legislature, and The News On 6â€™s Emory Bryan reports he helped write a law to crack down on repeat drunk drivers.

State Representative John Trebilcock was arrested early Saturday morning leaving downtown Tulsa in his Toyota 4 Runner. Officials say he was given two field sobriety tests before he was taken to jail.

"Those are screening tests, those tell us right off the bat if you've had too much alcohol to be driving a car," said Tulsa Police Sergeant Rick Bondy.

Trebilcock was stopped for driving without headlights in downtown Tulsa just after 2 a.m. The officer who stopped him noted a strong smell of alcohol on Trebilcock, along with slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. According to police records, he told the arresting officer, quote, "He had just kissed a girl that had been drinking and that is why he smelled like he had been drinking."

Police officers use several tests to check people suspected of driving under the influence, and police say the one Trebilcock failed, where the driverâ€™s eyes have to follow an officerâ€™s pen, is the best for determining intoxication.

"What you're looking for is smoothness. What people who have been drinking will show is their eye will stumble across, like rolling a marble across sandpaper, not really smooth," Bondy said.

The arresting officer said Trebilcock passed another sobriety test, but refused the more definitive breathalyzer.

"If you refuse a breath test your license is going to be suspended, you automatically lose your license for six months or more," said Bondy.

Trebilcock posted bond and was out of jail within just a few hours. In the legislature he co-sponsored a law that cracks down on repeat drunk drivers by requiring an ignition locking device on their cars. It requires the driver to blow into it before their car will start; itâ€™s a kind of breathalyzer that prevents a drunk person from driving.

Trebilcock is author of a 2005 state law that requires people who are convicted of a second DUI charge to install ignition interlocking alcohol-detection devices in their automobiles before they can get their driver's licenses back.

For more information about State Representative John Trebilcock, visit his state House website.