A Democratic candidate for the Washington state House was charged with driving under the influence after a crash in Tacoma last month, and police body camera footage shows her declining sobriety tests, pleading to go home, and later praying and sobbing in the back of a patrol car.
Krista Perez finished first in last month’s primary for the 29th Legislative District, Position 1, and is set to face incumbent state Rep. Melanie Morgan, also a Democrat, in the November general election. In Washington’s top-two primary system, both candidates advanced regardless of party.
Tacoma Police said Perez’s 2019 Chevrolet Silverado struck a parked car on South G Street shortly after midnight on August 11, triggering a chain-reaction crash that damaged five vehicles, according to reporting by The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red, which obtained the body camera video.
Prosecutors charged Perez with DUI, including a refusal enhancement tied to the collision and her subsequent interaction with officers.
What the Body Camera Shows
In the footage, an officer asks Perez whether she was in an accident. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in an accident before,” she replies. She tells the officer she was driving from a friend’s business on Tacoma Avenue South when the crash happened, and says she recently switched insurance companies, though she is able to name the new insurer.
When asked if she had been drinking, Perez says she “just had some wine” — one glass — while at the business. Asked how large the glass was, she tells the officer, “I think you might need to contact the business.”
Asked to rate her own sobriety on a scale of zero to ten, Perez first says she wants to go home, then rates herself a four when pressed again.
The officer offers Perez standardized field sobriety tests, repeatedly noting they are voluntary under Washington law. Perez declines multiple times, saying she is “confused” and wants to go home first.
“You’re not going to go home first. I’m going to tell you that right now, okay? So your options between the test, yes or no, that’s going to be determined tonight, right now, not when you go home. So would you like to take these tests or no?” the officer says.
Perez ultimately confirms she is declining the tests and is told she is under arrest for DUI. “Hold on. Hold on. One second. Hold on,” she responds, saying repeatedly that she does not “know what any of this means.”
Field sobriety tests are optional under state law, and declining them is legally distinct from the refusal enhancement prosecutors have filed against Perez. According to an arrest report cited by The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red, that enhancement stems from what happened later at Tacoma Police headquarters, where officers said Perez failed to provide a usable breath sample after three attempts before the testing machine timed out.
Footage from inside the patrol car shows Perez crying for several minutes and praying aloud. “Help me, God. Help me. Help me. Holy Spirit, help me, God,” she says.
No Legal Bar to Serving
Washington law does not prevent someone facing a DUI charge from holding a seat in the legislature. Other Democratic lawmakers have remained in office following alcohol-related incidents, including House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, who apologized in February after acknowledging he had been drinking before a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
“I made a poor choice last night by drinking alcohol before we had finished our work for the day. I am disappointed in myself and take responsibility for that poor choice. It won’t happen again, and I’m committed to completing my work this session without alcohol,” Fitzgibbon said in a statement at the time.
Perez faces Morgan in the November general election for the 29th Legislative District seat.
