The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office has filed drunken driving charges against Democratic Assemblyman Roger Hernandez of West Covina.
Two misdemeanor charges were filed, officials said, but both counts stem from the same incident in which Hernandez allegedly was driving under the influence when stopped by police March 27. He is scheduled to appear in court May 21 for arraignment.
Laboratory results found that Hernandez' blood-alcohol level at the time of the test was 0.08 percent, the level at which a driver can be charged with drunken driving. The lawmaker was tested about an hour after he was taken into custody, police said.
Hernandez could not be reached immediately for comment today. When lab results were released last week, however, he apologized for his actions and said the findings serve as a "huge wake-up call for me."'
"I may have made a poor judgment thinking that I was sober enough to drive after a couple of drinks over the course of an evening," he said. "Had I thought I was mentally or physically impaired to drive, I would not have gone behind the wheel of a car."
Hernandez, accompanied by a 29-year-old woman, was stopped by officers in the parking lot of the Crowne Plaza Hotel about 2 a.m. on a weekday. The Toyota Camry he was driving - an Assembly vehicle -- had been spotted weaving inside a lane on Concord Avenue, officers said.
The first-term legislator denied that his car had been weaving or that he was impaired at the time.
Hernandez has voluntarily relinquished his right to drive an Assembly pool car until the matter is resolved.
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