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3.12.2002 08:31
Legislator charged in alcohol-test refusal
• Leon Tejada is charged with refusing a chemical test for alcohol and several traffic summonses after an officer allegedly sees him driving erratically.
PROVIDENCE
-- A state representative from the city's South Side was arrested after an officer allegedly saw the legislator's SUV forcing other cars off the highway on Route 10.
State Rep. Leon Tejada was charged March 3 with refusing a chemical test for alcohol and several traffic summonses after an officer who patrols his district allegedly saw him driving erratically.
Patrolman Clarence Gough said he was on his way to roll call when he saw Tejada's black Jeep Cherokee flashing its lights and honking its horn while tailgating several cars. One van swerved to avoid the Jeep and sideswiped the concrete divider, Gough said. A Mercedes slammed to a stop when Tejada cut it off at the Union Avenue exit, he said.
That's when the off-duty officer got involved.
"I really was afraid if I just went on to roll call, the next day I'd be reading in the paper that his car swiped someone and someone got killed," Gough said.
The police report said the 37-year-old legislator bore a strong odor of alcohol, and his eyes were bloodshot and watery. After losing his balance in the field sobriety tests, Tejada refused a chemical test and was given several traffic summonses, the police said. His 11-year-old niece, who was in the Jeep, was given a ride home by the Cranston police.
After he was arrested, Tejada asked to call his lawyers, Joseph Voccola and House Speaker John B. Harwood, the police said.
Tejada denied the police account yesterday. "I wasn't drunk," he said. He said he refused the chemical test "because I think there was no reason to do it. I think it was an injustice."
Tejada, of 20 Miller Ave., said he didn't see other cars on the road, and that he rarely uses his horn because he thinks it's rude.
Instead, he criticized the police for "making a big deal out of a little thing."
"The police should take care of the real problems out there in South Providence instead of making such a big deal about an action that isn't true," Tejada said.
But Gough, who has patrolled the South Side for 21 years, said he saw fear on the faces of the other motorists.
He said he called in Tejada's license plate -- "House 18" -- and asked for assistance. As he followed Tejada into Cranston, Gough said, he pulled his own car alongside Tejada's Jeep at Laurel Hill Avenue and yelled for him to pull over.
Tejada did. He said he told the officer he was in a hurry because it was late and the girl was worried about getting up for school the next day.
"I've heard much better than that," Gough said yesterday. "You're kidding me. That's the worst excuse I ever heard."
Gough called Sgt. Michael Martinous to the scene to conduct a field sobriety test.
Tejada said the police administered the tests "on a little hill" on Lookout Avenue. The police say they tested Tejada on level ground on Laurel Hill Avenue, and that he couldn't keep his balance.
Tejada said yesterday he told the police that his eyes were watering from his contact lenses, but the officers ignored him and wouldn't let him put on his glasses.
According to the police report, however, Tejada told the officers that he didn't have his contacts or glasses, which is why they weren't able to administer part of the field sobriety test.
Tejada is scheduled for a hearing before the Traffic Tribunal on April 2.
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