A first-term North Dakota lawmaker went on a “verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory” tirade against police officers who pulled him over for driving under the influence earlier this month.
State Rep. Nico Rios, a Republican, was returning home from a Christmas party on December 15 when he was stopped by Williston Police officers, InForum reported.
He demanded his phones when cops put in the back of the patrol car so he could “call Attorney General Drew Wrigley,” which came out “Drigley,” and complain about the mistreatment he was receiving at the hands of the officers.
Wrigley said he never received a call.
Rios slurs his words throughout the 22-minute video posted to the Bismarck Tribune (the entire ordeal was more than an hour long) and the officers said they could smell alcohol on his breath. Rios refused a breathalyzer test because, he said, he was just two blocks from home.
“You guys are going to regret picking on me because you don’t know who the f*** I am,” he told them after failing field sobriety tests.
According to the police report, Rios couldn’t keep his balance and stumbled when walking heel-to-toe.
After he refused the breathalyzer test, Officer Alexander Welch read him his Miranda rights and arrested him. Rios took particular umbradge with Welch, who as an English-born American citizen, has an obvious English accent.
When officers told him he couldn’t take his truck home, he argued and ultimately responded with an homophobic slur.
Sitting in the backseat of Welch’s vehicle after he was handcuffed, Rios said that he didn’t think “people from England should be arresting Americans.”
“Your country is being overtaken by f******* migrants and refugees, right?” Rios. “You’re arresting me for driving home. But people come into your country and rape your women. And I’m the f******* bad guy? I’m going to fight for the people of England more than you ever would, you little b****.”
Rios asked the officers to turn off their cameras after they told him his profanities were being recorded. Even when they refused, he continued his tirades.
“You’re ruining my life so you can f****** make a paycheck,” Rios told Welch.
Welch remained calm throughout until they arrived at police headquarters. As Welch guides Rios through the booking process, Rios tells an officer with North Dakota accent that he wished he was arresting him instead of Welch. A few minutes later, Welch tells Rios to sit down, a command Rios ignores. “I’m trying to apologize,” he says, prompting Welch to shout, “SIT! DOWN!”
On Friday, Rios apologized and promised never to do it again. State GOP executive director Andrew Nyhus told the Tribune that the party was “deeply troubled” by Rios’s decision to drive drunk and “his remarks to law enforcement officers.” He did not suggest that the representative should resign.
North Dakota’s Democrat-NPL Party chairman Adam Goldwyn, however, did. He called Rios’s actions “reprehensible.”
“It used to be that when public servants disgraced themselves, they resigned rather than bring shame upon those they represent,” Goldwyn said, adding, “It seems the Republican Party no longer has a sense of shame.”
North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor told the Associated Press he hadn’t seen the video but had “heard enough about it.” He said he wanted to speak with Rios before decision whether to do anything.
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[Featured image: Williston Police Department via AP]
