Drunk driver to York Co. deputy: Read me my rights ‘in Mexican’

An English-speaking man pulled over for drunken driving asked a York County deputy to read him his rights “in Mexican” because he said he was bilingual, according to reports.

The driver had been sitting in a pickup parked on the side of S.C. 557 when a deputy stopped behind him early Sunday, according to a sheriff’s report. The driver, a 26-year-old man from Gastonia, N.C., showed signs of intoxication and was taken into custody after failing multiple field sobriety tests. Deputies read him his Miranda rights during the arrest.

The deputy wrote in the report that during the mandatory observation period at the York County jail, the suspect “insisted that I re-read his applicable rights and then wanted me to read them to him ‘in Mexican’ because he is bilingual,” the report states. “He continued this charade until I advised him that he was not only fluent in English, but that ‘Mexican’ is not a language.”

The suspect was told by the deputy “he could read the rights in Spanish if he chose to do so.”

“I asked (the suspect) to speak Spanish since he continued to insist that he was bilingual,” the report states. “He began spouting off a few words very quickly, trying to read some of the Spanish on the implied consent form.”

The driver was charged with DUI and unlawful carry of a pistol, since he had a pistol on the seat in the truck, deputies said.

This story was originally published October 19, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Drunk driver to York Co. deputy: Read me my rights ‘in Mexican’."