North Dakota Lawmaker Arrested, Police Bodycam Footage Released

A North Dakota lawmaker was arrested for drunk driving last Friday after leaving a Christmas party.

Republican state representative of North Dakota, Nico Rios, was arrested and charged with DUI and for refusing to take a chemical test.

Bodycam footage of the arrest shows Rep. Rios becoming “verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory,” according to the police presort.

Watch the bodycam footage below:

Here’s what The New York Post reported:

A North Dakota politician told police they’d “regret picking on him” and threatened to call the state’s attorney general during his racist and homophobic rant as he was arrested for drunk driving after a Christmas party last Friday.

Rep. Nico Rios, a Williston Republican lawmaker, was arrested and charged with DUI and refusing to provide a chemical test, according to the Bismarck Tribune.

He was pulled over when officers noticed the pol failing to stay in his lane which prompted Rios to become “verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory,” according to an arrest record obtained by the outlet.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rios was captured on bodycam footage trying to pass off his business card when asked by the officers for his license and registration during the stop.

The lawmaker was put through a field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer test, telling officers he only lived two blocks away from where he was pulled over.

“You guys are going to regret picking on me because you don’t know who f–k I am,” Rios told the officers.

North Dakota Republican lawmaker who serves on a panel that handles law enforcement legislation…(“was verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive & discriminatory”) to a police officer who arrested him on a charge of driving drunk (DUI), body camera… https://t.co/UtfFX4hd63

— Suzie S (@suziesuchi) December 23, 2023

Here’s what AP reported:

A North Dakota lawmaker who serves on a panel that handles law enforcement legislation made homophobic and anti-migrant remarks to a police officer who arrested him on a charge of driving drunk, body camera footage shows.

Republican state Rep. Nico Rios of Williston was also charged with refusing to provide a chemical test. Both that and the drunken driving charge are misdemeanors under state law. Rios is scheduled for a Feb. 5 pretrial conference in municipal court.

Williston police pulled him over on Dec. 15 for failing to maintain his lane, according to an officer’s report. The officer wrote that Rios “was verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory” toward him “for the entire duration of the incident following road side testing.”

The homophobic slurs can be heard in body camera footage requested by and provided to The Associated Press. In the recording, Rios also said he would call the North Dakota attorney general about the situation. He told the officers they would “regret picking on me because you don’t know who … I am.”

A North Dakota lawmaker who serves on a panel that handles law enforcement legislation made homophobic and anti-migrant remarks to a police officer who arrested him on a charge of driving drunk, body camera footage shows. ⁦@JackFromNoDak⁩ https://t.co/qYIBj4xA9O

— Tom Beaumont (@TomBeaumont) December 23, 2023