INDIANAPOLIS — State Rep. Jim Lucas was cooperative, even joking, at times, with police after he was arrested in May for driving under the influence, new body camera footage shows.
Lucas, who represents parts of Bartholomew, Jackson, Scott, and Washington counties, pleaded guilty last week to two misdemeanors — operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident — after he struck a guardrail and drove the wrong way on an interstate entrance ramp while intoxicated.
The latest body and dash camera footage obtained by the Indiana Capital Chronicle from the Indiana State Police (ISP) captured multiple failed sobriety tests performed by Lucas, who struggled to walk in a straight line or balance himself on one leg. A portable breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at .097, higher than the .08 legal limit in Indiana.
After he was placed under arrest, Lucas was cooperative and chatty with the officers.
“I’m on your side,” he tells state trooper Clayton Saltzman, who offered to loosen the lawmaker’s handcuffs before transporting him to and from the hospital for a blood toxicology test. Per ISP policy, Lucas sat in the passenger seat of the patrol car.
At multiple points during the drive from the hospital to the Jackson County Jail, where he was booked in the early morning hours of May 31, Lucas smiled and laughed, including as he explained what happened to his wrecked truck.
As Saltzman listed Lucas’s charges, Lucas asks why he was “nailed” with leaving the scene of an accident. “I was at the scene – I was walking to get help,” Lucas says, chuckling. “I thought a deer ran out in front of me. How’s that?” The officer responds, “If that’s what you want to go with.”
During the conversation, a raccoon ran across the road in front of Saltzman’s patrol vehicle, causing him to swerve. “See … you did swerve … a deer’s bigger, man,” Lucas said.
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