SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Video shows a suspected drunken driver going the wrong way on a highway in New Mexico around 2:30 a.m. last week, driving right past deputies.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bernardino Jimenez, 59, for aggravated DWI and reckless driving.
A report says Jimenez was driving north in the southbound lanes of the highway on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Deputies followed the car for about a mile before surrounding it and forcing it to slow to a stop. They say Jimenez admitted to drinking, but he didn’t seem to see anything
wrong with his driving.
“Do you realize that you’re on the wrong way of the highway?” a deputy asked.
“No,” Jimenez responded with a shrug.
During field sobriety tests, video shows Jimenez losing his balance and stumbling. There was a reason for his unsteady stance, he told deputies.
“You know, I’m going uphill,” Jimenez said. “You think I be, like, a little bit level. I mean, I’m just asking.”
“Okay it is. It is level,” a deputy responded.
His breath test results were .19 and .18, more than double the legal limit.
It was a first-offense DWI charge for Jimenez. He was released from jail after a day.
Deputies seized his car, taking it to the Sheriff’s Office.
