Angela West, the wife of Texas gubernatorial candidate Allen West, has been cleared by the Dallas Police Department of a drinking while intoxicated charge the gubernatorial hopeful deemed “insidious.”
The gubernatorial campaign of Allen West, a former Florida congressman who now chairs the Texas GOP, said Wednesday that Angela West’s Aug. 20 arrest “has been proven unwarranted and baseless beyond a shadow of a doubt by the Dallas Police Department’s toxicology report showing no narcotics or alcohol in her system.”
The Dallas Police Department said it was aware of the lab results as outlined in the toxicology report and that the officer who made the arrest “made her decision based on the information available to her at that time.”
“The purpose of addressing the media and releasing the video footage of the suspected DUI arrest of Mrs. Angela West was not to prove guilt or innocence, but to show the interaction between the officer and Mrs. West because of the accusations regarding the encounter,” the department told the Washington Examiner in an email Thursday. “The remainder of the process lies in the hands of the District Attorney’s office. We respect the ultimate decision of the District Attorney’s office and we will refrain from commenting further.”
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Allen West asked for a full apology from the police department, as well as the release of the body camera footage.
“I stand by my assertion that a full apology to my wife Angela is warranted,” West said. “As well, the full unedited body cam video should be released by the @DallasPD @DPDChiefGarcia to the press and the public. My wife’s honor and reputation should have never been assailed.”
I stand by my assertion that a full apology to my wife Angela is warranted. As well, the full unedited body cam video should be released by the @DallasPD @DPDChiefGarcia to the press and the public. My wife’s honor and reputation should have never been assailed. pic.twitter.com/S1BnNXJglU
— Allen West (@AllenWest) September 1, 2021
Allen West also shared a letter from attorney George Milner asserting that the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office reached “the right result and we appreciate that honest justice was swift.”
“It is now indisputable Ms. West was completely innocent of any wrongdoing! This unfortunate stain on her otherwise exemplary reputation should be removed with haste,” Milner continued.
While driving a white SUV-type Mercedes Benz, Angela West failed to signal while changing lanes and entered onto the shoulder to travel between the shoulder and the right lane, Officer Lydia Harris observed on Aug. 20, a DPD official said during an Aug. 23 press conference. Harris later stopped the vehicle, observed an infant in a car seat, and instructed the driver to pull off to the next road, the official said.
When the driver, who said she was driving that way because she was listening to her GPS, pulled off the busy highway, Harris, who then identified the driver as Angela West via her driver’s license, asked the driver to step out of her vehicle, according to officials’ accounts.
Harris asked Angela West preliminary questions about her medical history and then asked whether she would submit to a field sobriety test, to which she agreed, officials said. After conducting the test, Harris placed Angela West under arrest “for suspicion while driving intoxicated” and transported her to the Dallas County Jail, where a warrant was obtained for a blood sample, the laboratory results of which were pending, the DPD official said at the Aug. 23 press conference.
The day after his wife’s arrest, Allen West said he was “highly p***ed off,” adding that his grandson Jackson was in the back seat of Angela West’s car.
“The thing that upsets me the most is that they took my wife, arrested her, brought her to jail, and left my grandson with two Dallas police officers … This is c***. I support the thin blue line, but this is insidious,” the GOP chairman said, adding that his daughter later picked his grandson up from the police officers.
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Allen West, who said Angela West drank only water and lemonade before driving on Aug. 20, also tweeted a photo of what is purportedly an Aug. 20 receipt from P.F. Chang’s, apparently showing that no alcohol was ordered during the meal.
