East Haven police netted a high-ranking Rhode Island lawmaker at a sobriety checkpoint Friday night.
When stopped at the Foxon Road checkpoint at about 9:30 p.m., Rhode Island’s House minority leader Robert Watson was slurring his words, smelled of marijuana and had the “distinct odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from his breath,” according to a police report.
Before failing several field sobriety tests, Watson reportedly told East Haven officer Vincent Ferrara “that he was an attorney and that he does these tests with his friends while out at bars.”
After Ferrara arrested Watson and charged him with driving under the influence, a pat down revealed a small, plastic bag of pot and a wooden pipe in Watson’s pocket, leading to additional charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the report.
A breathalyzer test taken at East Haven Police Department reportedly revealed Watson’s blood alcohol content to be 0.05 percent, 0.03 percent less than the legal limit of 0.08.
Watson was released on $500 bond and is due in court on March 5.
Back in February, Watson reportedly refused to apologize for a comment he made to a Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce audience: “I suppose if you’re a gay man from Guatemala who gambles and smokes pot, you probably think that we’re onto some good ideas here.”
