Former State Senate candidate arrested Crime News

June 24th, 2012 by Caitlin Bartley

Former State Senate candidate arrested

– A woman who ran for the Senate is now accused of running from the scene of an accident and driving drunk.

Santa Fe Police’s dash camera shows her bringing up politics as she argued with the officers. Niccole Castellano lost her State Senate race in early June. Santa Fe Police say it was five o’clock Friday afternoon when Castellano drove her SUV into another car. Officers say she was belligerently drunk. Castellano argued with officers saying she told the driver she hit that she was just driving down the street to get somewhere safe. The other driver said that never happened and called police. The head-on collision happened right in front of the Santa Fe Police Headquarters.

Castellano drove down the block to a strip mall parking lot where dash camera video shows her refusing to obey officers for almost an hour. She refused a breath-test and was hesitant to perform a field sobriety test because she did not want video of it to get out.

Castellano had been in the public eye before and she was worried about political implications. Castellano was arrested and booked into Santa Fe County Jail. She is charged with aggravated DWI, hit-and-run and driving without insurance. Investigators say they overheard Castellano talking to her mom on the phone about not having insurance on her SUV. The driver of the other car was not hurt. Castellano is the daughter of former District Attorney Joe Castellano.

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