By Ryan Sabalow, CalMatters

A California state senator had thick slurred speech, appeared drowsy and was unsteady on her feet when officers interacted with her at a Sacramento hospital following a car crash last month, according to a search warrant a judge signed authorizing police to perform a DUI blood test.

Sen. Sabrina Cervantes’ blood would later show no evidence of intoxicating substances, and Sacramento County prosecutors declined to file charges.

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Now, Cervantes is threatening to sue the Sacramento Police Department, alleging officers targeted the Democrat representing Riverside because of her race and sexual orientation.

Her attorney, James Quadra, said the search warrant CalMatters obtained late Monday from Sacramento police through a California Public Records Act request only helps their case.

“There’s going to be lots of witnesses that are going to contradict everything that this officer put in there under oath,” Quadra said today.

But on May 19, the day of the crash, Officer Kevin Lucas was able to persuade a deputy district attorney and a Sacramento Superior Court judge that officers had probable cause to believe Cervantes, 37, was impaired by a central nervous system depressant, according to the search warrant.

Cervantes was cited under a California statute that prohibits driving under the influence of “any drug.” That includes prescription or even over-the-counter medications.

The document, which includes Lucas’ sworn affidavit, is the first police record released in the case. The police department has so far declined to provide CalMatters with body camera footage or other reports. Officers cited the other driver for running a stop sign and prosecutors cleared Cervantes. Police have said the crash remains under investigation.

Lucas wrote in his affidavit that officers met Cervantes at a Sacramento hospital emergency room following the early afternoon crash a few blocks from the Capitol.

Last month, police said the state fleet vehicle manager called to report the collision and that Cervantes’ chief of staff drove her to the hospital.

Warrant alleges Cervantes appeared intoxicated

When officers arrived, they met with Cervantes in the emergency room waiting area. Lucas wrote that Cervantes was seated and wearing a black face mask and sunglasses.

Lucas wrote that Cervantes “appeared to have difficulty getting into a standing position,” and she had an “unsteady gait” as she walked the 75 feet to a private security room.

“When she removed her face mask and sunglasses she appeared to be drowsy while speaking,” Lucas wrote. Cervantes had “thick slurred speech and at times she stumbled over the pronunciation of words during her statement.”

She denied drinking anything, but when officers asked to perform field sobriety tests, she declined and said “she would need to speak with senate legal counsel first,” Lucas wrote.

Officers suspected this was a “stalling tactic attempting to delay the investigation of DUI,” Lucas wrote. Cervantes told officers she wouldn’t provide a blood sample unless police obtained a search warrant, Lucas said.

A deputy district attorney reviewed the documents before Judge Carlton Davis signed it at 5:41 p.m., more than four hours after the crash.

Police would later tell reporters that Cervantes eventually consented to the blood test before the warrant was authorized, but they decided to wait until they had the judge’s clearance before taking a blood sample.

Cervantes’ attorney claims officers lied

“The officers remained professional throughout, taking time to explain the process and answer all of the senator’s questions,” police said in a statement last month.

Quadra, Cervantes’ attorney, said it was no wonder that his client was unsteady on her feet. She had just been in a wreck that totaled her car. She also had spoken to a legislative law enforcement officer who advised her to go to the hospital to get checked out, he said.

Once she got there, police started treating her “as if she did something wrong when she’s a victim,” Quadra said. He added that given their suspicion, it was little wonder she exercised her right to seek legal advice. Quadra said no one else Cervantes spoke to that day noted she had slurred speech.

“I don’t fault the judge for issuing a warrant when a police officer lies,” Quadra said. “And that (search warrant is) full of lies.”

Sacramento police spokesperson Sgt. Dan Wiseman declined to comment.

Ed Obayashi, a law enforcement officer, lawyer and consultant who gives state-certified training courses to police, including on how to prepare search warrants, reviewed Lucas’ affidavit at CalMatters’ request.

He said it wasn’t the strongest affidavit he’s seen, but it meets the “minimum threshold” of probable cause. Obayashi noted that both a prosecutor and a judge felt the same.

He said he could see no evidence in the document that police officers were biased against Cervantes. They may have noted her Hispanic ethnicity in the report, as is standard police practice, but officers would have had no idea she was a member of LGBTQ community, Obayashi said.

“I mean, does she have a sign around her neck saying that?” he said. “How would they know?”