RivCo Democrats Back Senator Accused Of DUI

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County Democrats swiftly came to the aid of Sen. Sabrina Cervantes this week, after she said she was wrongly accused of driving under the influence of drugs when her vehicle was involved in a crash near the state capital earlier this month.

The senator, 37, has been working to prove her innocence after she was cited with a misdemeanor by the Sacramento Police Department on May 21. Since then, she has released a clean toxicology report and has repeatedly denied accusations that she was impaired.

The Riverside County Democratic Party is voicing its support for the senator, stating in a Tuesday news release: “False Accusations Make Headlines. Vindication Deserves the Same,”

“She was accused, detained, and thrust into headlines before any facts had been confirmed," Riverside County Democratic Party Chair Joy Silver wrote. "Now that the evidence has cleared her, the same attention should be paid."

The lawmaker says she was seeking care in the emergency room after a large SUV t-boned her sedan. She says she was then "accosted by police" and detained at a hospital for several hours.

Sacramento police officers, who met with the senator at a hospital after the crash, suspected that she was under the influence of drugs.

"This was not a routine encounter," Silver said. "It followed a violent collision and a hospital visit, yet she was treated as a suspect instead of a survivor. That choice reflects something deeper — a culture that punishes dissent and seeks to intimidate women in power."

Days after the crash, Cervantes widely shared her results from a urine drug screen that showed undetectable levels for a list of drugs, including THC, amphetamines, barbiturates, opiates and cocaine. The sample was collected on Tuesday, May 20 at 4:27 p.m., more than 24 hours after police said the crash occurred.

Cervantes also shared documentation of her visit to an emergency room at Kaiser Permanente's South Sacramento Medical Center at 4:13 p.m. on Monday after the crash. However, large parts of the report are blacked out. The report says the senator was complaining of lower back, hip and knee pain after the crash. It also details that her blood alcohol level was less than .01 percent.

Police took their own blood sample after meeting the senator at the hospital. But the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office is still waiting on those lab results to decide whether to press charges against Cervantes.

Sacramento Police Department spokesperson Anthony Gamble told CalMatters Wednesday that the senator was cited under a California law that bans driving under the influence of “any drug.”

“Sen. Cervantes was cited for suspicion of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of a central nervous system depressant,” Gamble said.