AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Video from the inside of a police car shows Michigan Rep. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) extremely worried about her career after a drunken driving arrest last month.
Warren was caught on police dashcam swerving in and out of traffic and then hitting a guardrail along I-75.
Police said Warren failed sobriety tests in Auburn Hills, even though she said she was driving to Ann Arbor from Detroit. Police were called to reports of a drunken driver at 11:18 p.m. on Dec. 26 to the area of northbound I-75 and M-59.
Warren got out of the vehicle for a field sobriety test and told the officer that she had been at the Ren Cen and had a couple glasses of wine.
That’s a 40 minute drive from downtown to where she was pulled over. Warren told officers that she was on her way home to Ann Arbor. But, she was pulled over in northern Oakland County.
She told officers that she’s an elected official. She failed multiple field sobriety tests and then refused a breathalyzer. She was arrested and taken for a blood sample. Blood tests showed Warren’s blood alcohol count at .21.
Once in the back seat of the squad car, Warren repeatedly went on about how the arrest will ruin her career once the video is made public.
“Do you understand there’s going to be a moment where we’re both going to be on TV, and it’s gonna be, like, ‘Senator from Ann Arbor’s career’s over,'?” Warren asked the officer. "I just don’t want this on the camera for my future. Just don’t ruin my career.”
She was making comments about how she was going to fix her career if she ever got the chance, before saying she wouldn’t get the chance.
At one point, she tells the officer that the arrest is going to be “the most famous arrest you ever made.”
“You don’t understand. I’m elected. I’m a senator. People will be like, ‘The senator got arrested,'” Warren said.