State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, looking a bit confused in the midst of a floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
Hey there, folks! So, apparently, Sen. Sabrina Cervantes got herself into a bit of a pickle near the California Capitol. CalMatters did some digging and found out that she wasn’t really at fault in a crash. But hold your horses, because the police are claiming that she was driving under the influence of a drug. Yep, you heard that right.
Picture this: Sacramento police are pointing fingers at a California state senator for allegedly driving under the influence of a drug after a little crash just a few blocks away from the Capitol. And get this, it all went down less than an hour before she was supposed to be doing her thing on the floor of the state Legislature.
Here’s the scoop: CalMatters took a peek at footage from a nearby office building’s security camera and it seems like Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, who’s 37 by the way, wasn’t really the one to blame for the crash that happened around 1 p.m. on a Monday. The video shows a white SUV blowing through a stop sign and smacking into Cervantes’ black sedan at the intersection of 14th and S streets in midtown Sacramento. Looks like Cervantes had the right-of-way as she was cruising east on S Street.
Cervantes is out here saying she didn’t do anything wrong and that the crash wasn’t her fault. She even got herself checked out at the hospital, where the lab results supposedly showed no alcohol in her system. She’s pretty confident this whole thing will get sorted out real soon. The Riverside Democrat also mentioned that she was wrongly accused of driving under the influence and was held at the hospital against her will. Talk about a wild ride, huh?
So now, we’re all waiting with bated breath for the toxicology results before the big decision on whether to press charges. Sacramento County District Attorney’s office is keeping a close eye on things. The police, on the other hand, are singing a different tune. They’re saying Cervantes was cited for driving under the influence of a drug, which includes prescription or over-the-counter meds.
Gamble, the Sacramento Police Department spokesperson, spilled the tea that Cervantes was suspected of driving under the influence of a central nervous system depressant. He mentioned something about objective signs of intoxication and a DUI investigation. Looks like blood was drawn, and now we play the waiting game for those results.
But hey, why didn’t the officers slap some cuffs on Cervantes? Well, according to Gamble, every investigation is different. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this all pans out. Oh, and did I mention that Cervantes was driving a state-owned vehicle when the collision went down? Yep, a Toyota Camry. The state fleet manager was the one who rang up the cops about the crash. And would you believe it? Cervantes’ chief of staff was the one who whisked her away to the hospital.
The plot thickens as we see Cervantes chatting it up with the other driver and just chilling near her ride until some business-looking dudes show up. They even grab a suitcase and a few other bits from her car before making a run for it. Cervantes’ chief of staff didn’t have much to say about all this craziness. Wonder what’s going through his mind right about now.
So, there you have it, folks. Another day, another scandal in the world of politics. Who knows what’s going to happen next. Stay tuned for more drama unfolding in the world of California’s state government.
