At about 1:23am Saturday, Turlock Police Officer Rios made a traffic stop at Marshall Street and S. Center Street.
The vehicle’s license plate had a covering over it and just before the stop, one of the back seat passengers had been vomiting onto the roadway through a fully open door while the vehicle was being driven.
Rios made contact with and identified the vehicle’s driver as Manuel Cortez, 19, of Washington. Cortez also had three juvenile passengers aged 16 and 17, including the one who had vomited on the roadway.
When Rios had his dispatcher run Cortez, he discovered he was unlicensed.
While speaking with Cortez, Rios noticed he was displaying objective symptoms of being under the influence, so he removed him from his vehicle and had him blow into a preliminary alcohol screening device. Because Cortez was under 21, he couldn’t refuse to do this.
Rios then asked Cortez if he’d be willing to participate in standardized field sobriety tests. Cortez agreed and completed the tests.
During this entire interaction, Cortez had been begging not to go to jail and admitted to being drunk, yet also stated he didn’t know driving under the influence was illegal but somehow knew what standardized field sobriety tests were.
Based on the totality of the circumstances, Rios determined that Cortez was under the influence of alcohol and arrested him.
Cortez chose to provide two breath samples at the scene for his chemical test required by California’s implied consent law. Additionally, he was issued a driver’s license suspension order and his vehicle was towed.
Cortez was then booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of three counts of child endangerment, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood alcohol content of .05% or greater under the age of 21 years, driving without a valid license, failing to provide evidence of financial responsibility to a peace officer, and using a covering on a license plate.
The three juvenile passengers were released to a sober adult and Stanislaus County’s Child Protective Services was notified of the incident.
