ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Highway Patrol released Wednesday dashcam video of the arrest of a staffer working for Rep. Darren Soto who was charged with DUI after a crash on State Road 417.
Cecilia Cruz, 42, is accused of crashing into a motorcyclist on the roadway two weeks ago with her children, aged 9 and 14, in the vehicle, troopers said.
In the dashcam video, the trooper responding to the crash can be heard asking Cruz if everyone was OK in her vehicle.
“Your kids are OK, right? They’re not hurt?” the trooper asked.
Cruz allegedly told investigators that she was driving to St. Petersburg after a work event, during which she had consumed two glasses of wine, FHP said.
“She told troopers she was coming from a work event and that she was eventually trying to make her way to St. Petersburg,” FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said. “He did find an open container in the vehicle.”
In the dashcam video, Cruz can be heard explaining to the trooper that she didn’t call 911 after the crash because other people already had.
“I pulled over. I stopped,” she said. “There were several vehicles that pulled over.”
After several field sobriety tests, Cruz was arrested and charged with DUI.
Her blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit at the time, an FHP report said.
Soto’s office said Cruz had been terminated, effective at the end of the month.
Cox Media Group
