Kentucky state representative arrested for second DUI
State Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton was arrested for driving under the influence for the second time in the last four years early Tuesday morning.
The Democratic representative was booked into Louisville Metro Corrections at 2:26 a.m. Tuesday, according to the agency’s website.
Chester-Burton was arrested on one count of DUI and another count of reckless driving, according to Shively Police.
The DUI was alcohol-related, a spokesperson said. Chester-Burton was arrested around 1:00 a.m. on the 1800 block of Garrs Lane.
The arrest report from Shively Police claims that officers were responding to a domestic violence call when they witnessed Chester-Burton’s vehicle “went into oncoming lanes and sat there for a minute, forcing an oncoming vehicle to pass around her in the opposite oncoming lane.”
She later pulled back into the correct lane, but “stopped in the middle of the road and put the vehicle in park,” per the report.
When Chester-Burton exited the vehicle, police noted a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her persons” as well as her “slurred and rapid speech.” She told officers that she was coming from Frankfort and said multiple times that people were calling her asking her “what was going on in Shively,” a Jefferson County city where she was previously mayor.
She did not disclose how many alcoholic drinks she’d had and denied requests to take a field sobriety tests. Police wrote that she claimed she “would beat it like she did the last one.”
Chester-Burton was arrested previously for a DUI in 2020.
During the stop, police wrote that Chester-Burton “tried getting back in her vehicle a few times,” but was stopped by officers; later she tried to get in her backseat “where she almost fell.” Police also noted that Chester-Burton wanted a phone to “call the chief.”
During transport to jail, the report states that Chester-Burton offered a “spontaneous utterance” to the officer transporting her: “These guys act like they haven’t ever been to a birthday party.”
The 62-year-old representative’s first DUI arrest occurred in 2020 when she was mayor; she crashed her vehicle after police said she fell asleep at the wheel in a White Castle parking lot.
Chester-Burton was first elected as state representative in 2022, succeeding former House Democratic leader Joni Jenkins in representing a swath of Southwestern Louisville.
House Democratic leadership said the reports were “very concerning” but did not comment further pending release of more details.
“While we do not yet have details, we are very concerned about the charges facing Rep. Chester-Burton. Without knowing more information, we are unable to comment further at this time,” they said in a statement.
This is not the first news story the caucus has had to respond to related to a Democratic Louisville lawmaker recently.
Earlier this summer, Rep. Nima Kulkarni was kicked off the ballot by the Kentucky Supreme Court over a filing error. This month, Rep. Daniel Grossberg has also faced several allegations of harassment from women via reporting in the Herald-Leader.
