honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, May 3, 2008

Officer: Menor refused DUI test

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Sen. Ron Menor

spacer spacer

The police officer who arrested state Sen. Ron Menor for drunken driving said the Mililani Democrat refused to take a field preliminary alcohol screening test.

Menor said on two occasions this week that he did take the test.

Officer Michael Krekel told traffic Sgt. Ryan Nishibun that Menor refused to breathe into the PAS device, which measures blood-alcohol content.

"I gave them a breath sample," Menor said Thursday. "It is called a PAS. I did do that, as I mentioned in my (Sunday) statement."

Menor, 52, was arrested early Sunday and charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant. He was released on $500 bail.

Krekel said he saw Menor's van "weaving in a snakelike motion," going about 30 mph on H-1 Freeway near the Lunalilo on-ramp.

After he was stopped, Menor smelled of alcohol from a few feet away, his eyes were red and watery, he appeared tired and he was swaying back and forth, according to police reports.

Menor, D-17th (Mililani, Waipi'o), acknowledged he was driving slowly, but said it was because he was wearing a single, outdated contact lens that was giving him problems.

"(It) was slipping in my eye just before I was stopped," he said in a statement issued Monday.

He said he had recently lost both of his prescription lenses and his replacement lenses were on order. He also said he had consumed one or two "small" glasses of wine with food before he was pulled over.

Menor had said earlier that he refused to take a field sobriety test because his vision was impaired and he had previously suffered a fractured left foot that made it hard to walk.

During his arrest, Menor initially refused to answer a question about whether he was a state senator, police said. When asked what he did for a living, Menor replied he was an attorney, they said.

"After I informed Menor that I recognized him as a state of Hawai'i senator, he stated, 'Yes, I work in state government as well. I didn't want to say. That's true,' " Officer Benjamin Moszkowicz said.

Menor's two sons, ages 11 and 17, were passengers in the van, and in talking with them, Moszkowicz told them he looks for motorists who have been drinking and driving, and one of the boys said, "Yeah, like Dad," Moszkowicz said.