Safford officers were dispatched to Jilburtos on October 05, 2015 at !0:11 P.M. to reference a private property accident that was called in with the suspicion that there was a drunk driver involved. The first officer to arrive at the scene was advised by the reporting party that a driver of a car parked in the drive-thru caused an accident prior to his arrival in addition to attempting to fight him before the Police were called.
After gathering the reporting party’s story, the officer walked to the vehicle in question and inquired about the accident. The officer noticed there were two other passengers in the vehicle, one front seat passenger, and one back seat passenger on the driver’s side. The officer later identified the driver as Arturo. The officer could smell the aroma of an alcoholic beverage originating from inside the vehicle.
Arturo was asked to pull to the shoulder, to which he complied. When Arturo stopped his vehicle, he was asked to exit his vehicle and speak with the officer. Arturo had to use the door to exit the vehicle as he stumbled. Arturo was radiating the smell of alcohol.
The officer showed Arturo the damage to his vehicle on the front driver’s side of his vehicle and explained why he was contacting him. However, Arturo denied being in an accident with the excuse that the driver in the drive-thru had backed into him, and had also tried to fight him before the officer arrived.
Arturo’s speech slurred as he was swaying from side to side. This caused the officer to request Arturo to complete a series of field sobriety tests. Arturo refused and was taken into custody because the he was strongly suspected to be eligible of a DUI.
The passengers in Arturo’s vehicle were identified as Evanna Holmquest and Cody Holmquest. Both subjects reported tha Arturo was driving crazy on the way to get food, and when they got there he hit the car in front of them on purpose while asking, “You want to play bumper cars?”
Arturo had his blood tested at the Safford Police Department, advised of his rights, and left in the custody of Eric and Lana Butler.