Utah Senate Majority Leader Killpack Arrested on Suspicion of DUI
Utah Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack will now have a first hand perspective about the dangers of drunk driving.
The lawmaker who has sponsored and supported tough anti-DUI bills will see the law from the other side.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Republican Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Killpak, arrested on Friday, resigned from the Utah Senate on Saturday, as reported by the Washington Post.
The Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) pulled over Killpack after a trooper noticed a vehicle with a poor driving pattern.
The trooper noticed "a strong odor of alcohol" and asked Killpack to perform field sobriety tests. He performed the sobriety test but refused blow into a portable breath test, UHP said.
The UHP did not immediately release the results of the blood test, saying they could take two weeks to a month to get back.
In a statement, Killpack -- who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which tells followers to abstain from alcohol, apologized to those who he has disappointed. He said he plans to accept personal responsibility and legal and political consequences for his actions.
Killpack was arrested on suspicion of DUI and was then asked second time to take a different kind of breath test, the AP reports.
Killpack's father was killed by a drunken driver when the lawmaker was a teenager and he has sponsored and supported legislation aimed at cracking down on impaired drivers.
Last year, he was the Senate sponsor of a law that allows the seizure of vehicles of habitual drunken drivers. Killpack also sponsored legislation last year that allows drunken drivers to plead to a reduced charge of impaired driving and go to a DUI court.
- Utah Senate majority leader Killpack arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence (Associated Press)
- DUI Basics - DUI / DWI (FindLaw)
- State DUI Laws (FindLaw)
- Breath Test Refusal and Implied Consent in Utah (provided by Jardine Law Offices)
- DUI: Reliability of Breath Tests (provided by The Law Offices of Basil D. Beck III)