Dallas prosecutor tried to use Facebook friendship to avoid DWI arrest
DALLAS - A Dallas County prosecutor asked a Dallas police officer for special treatment while refusing to cooperate during her DWI arrest, court documents revealed. The affidavit says she tried to get out of the arrest by pulling the friend card – the Facebook friend card.
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson wasted no time suspending Assistant DA Leah Lucius without pay pending the outcome of an investigation into what police believe was a drunk driving crash.
"She is a DA, and it did come to our attention about a possible DWI arrest,” Johnson said. “We immediately brought her in this morning, and she's suspended at this time pending the investigation of the case."
Lucius was involved in a late night one-car crash just blocks from her home near White Rock Lake. A neighbor called 911 to report he'd seen a car flying through the air after hitting a tree.
The accident happened at the corner of Breezewood and San Leandro just after midnight Saturday morning. Accidents in that area happen a lot, according to a lady who lives in the house where the lawn got torn up because two streets come together.
Lucius’ Cadillac first took out a stop sign, hit a tree and then continued to tear up a lawn. Her car continued on for at least a half a block, tearing up more lawn before hitting a neighbor's fence and breaking its gate.
An affidavit for arrest warrant says police found Lucius in the car with "bloodshot eyes, breath smelling of a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage and unsteady balance… The right front tire was ripped off and the windshield was busted."
According to the affidavit, Lucius told officers "I was coming this way and some guy was coming into my lane and I ran over the road."
The 49-year-old refused to take a breathalyzer or field sobriety tests and forced officers to get a warrant for a blood draw at Parkland Hospital, where she was taken instead of jail.
The affidavit also reports that Lucius said to one of the officers, "Can you give me a break? We are Facebook friends,” which sparked a reaction from Johnson.
"I say it everywhere I go. You can be black, white, green, purple, young, old, rich, poor. I'm going to make sure there is justice for everybody,” Johnson said. “So we have the same standard for everybody in this county."
It's the standing policy of the DA's office that someone outside the department will be hired to prosecute Lucius if it comes to that.
According to the warrant affidavit, she has no previous DWI arrests. A check of her history turns up nothing more than one previous speeding ticket.
When asked at the scene if she'd been drinking, Lucius told the officers "not much," and added she had a couple of glasses of wine over a five-hour period.
FOX4 reached out to Lucius by phone, but she declined to comment. She was instructed to turn herself in after being released from the hospital. At last report, she had not.