Body camera footage shows February drunk-driving arrest of Sen. Charles Schwertner

Newly released body camera footage shows state Sen. Charles Schwertner’s February arrest for suspicion of drunk driving after refusing to take a breathalyzer test. Travis County prosecutors dropped the charge in July, saying there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Schwertner represents Senate District 5, a Republican-friendly district that covers the north Austin suburbs and spreads east to include College Station. It includes Limestone County.

The video was released to The Texas Tribune on Friday in response to a public records request. It shows Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican, being pulled over in the early morning hours of Feb. 7 in Austin. The officer tells Schwertner he was driving between two lanes, and Schwertner apologizes, saying he and his passenger were “changing channels and stuff.”

State Rep. Claudia Ordaz, D-El Paso, can be seen in the front passenger seat with Schwertner as he is being pulled over. In a statement, she said, “I had no involvement in this matter other than being a passenger at the time of this incident and was fully cooperative with authorities at all times. I regret this incident occurred, and in the future, I will use more caution to prevent this type of unfortunate circumstance.”

The video goes on to show Schwertner repeating he had not been drinking, performing field sobriety tests and being handcuffed. He was released from the Travis County jail later that day, telling reporters he was “deeply apologetic” and “made a mistake.”

Schwertner’s lawyer, Perry Minton, declined to answer questions about the video and instead provided a brief statement.

“This is the video the Travis County Attorney’s Office viewed when it rejected any charges against Senator Schwertner months ago,” Minton said. “It’s time to move on to newsworthy stories.”

The Tribune provided the video to both Schwertner’s and Ordaz’s offices shortly after it was released on Friday evening. Minton provided his statement Saturday morning, while Ordaz did not respond with a comment until just 1 minute before this story’s publication.

In the video, Schwertner tells the officer he was picking up Ordaz at the airport and they had gone out to dinner at Whataburger. Ordaz tells the officer they are parked at her place, and Schwertner confirms it is where she lives.

The officer asks if they have been drinking and both say no. The officer asks Schwertner to come out of the car, and once he does, the officer tells Schwertner he notices a “strong smell of alcohol” on his breath. The officer asks again if Schwertner had anything to drink, and Schwertner says no.

A little while later, the officer continues to ask Schwertner whether he has been drinking, at one point asking him to rate how drunk he is on a scale of zero to 10. Part of the audio of the exchange is missing, but Schwertner’s response is audible.

“I’m sober,” Schwertner says. “Zero.”

The officer proceeds to conduct field sobriety tests on Schwertner, during which his wife apparently arrives at the scene.

“My wife just showed up,” Schwertner says, explaining he was distracted while balancing on one foot.

They try to restart the exercise, but Schwertner is still distracted.

“Belinda. Belinda,” Schwertner says. “She’s an attorney.”

While a voice can be heard offscreen, the words are inaudible. It is unclear who exactly Schwertner was referring to as an attorney. Neither Belinda Schwertner nor Ordaz are listed as attorneys in either of their public profiles.

The officer and Schwertner resume the exercise, but Schwertner becomes impatient. He asks the officer if the length of time he has been balancing is “sufficient,” and the officer tells him that is not for him to decide.