Around 3:30 AM on Sunday morning, MNPD found a Nissan Rogue on the I-65 off-ramp for Wedgewood. Inside that vehicle was Omar Lopez and a passenger. Lopez was passed out or asleep in the driver’s seat with the vehicle in drive and his foot on the brake. His passenger was also passed out/asleep. Lopez was arrested on multiple charges, including possession & DUI – and this isn’t the first time he was found passed out behind the wheel.
According to a police report, officers attempted to wake Lopez by knocking on the window and yelling for him to wake up, however they were only able to rouse the passenger from his state who also tried to awaken Lopez but was unable to do so. He was able to unlock the doors so that officers could gain entry to the vehicle. Officers eventually shook Lopez by the arm until he briefly woke up, but continued to close his eyes and fall back into his sleep state, even as officers continued to tell him to keep his eyes open and speak with them.
Omar Lopez had trouble locating his driver’s license, instead giving officers his cell phone as his license. Lopez is reported to have had red blood shot water eyes, slurred speech, and the odor of alcohol coming from his breath. He was unable to stand on his own when asked to step from the vehicle.
Search incident to a DUI arrest revealed a small glass bottle with a “pill inside of liquid” in his right front pocket (which is where his driver’s license was also located). Lopez identified the bottle as ‘Rush’, commonly known as ‘poppers’, telling officers it was “poppers” which was “similar to a muscle relaxer”, as he described it.
Once his ID was found, it was determined that Lopez also had an outstanding warrant for failure to be booked for a state citation from October of 2017. At 03:53 AM Lopez was read his miranda rights, and he admitted to drinking 2 Vodka tonics and taking the ‘Rush’ poppers, which he says he purchased at Hustler Hollywood and took at 3 AM. He told the officer “it makes you feel very relaxed” and admitted that he should not have been driving.
Lopez initially agreed to a blood draw, however on the way to General Hospital, he stated that he knew he was going to fail the test because he had intoxicants in his system, and later refused the blood draw once inside the hospital. He was charged with:
- DUI: $1000 bond
- Implied Consent
- Drug Possession $1000 bond
- FTA/Suspended License $500 bond
Lopez bonded out via Grumpy’s and will appear in court on 03/02. His previous DUI (see below) was reduced to a reckless driving charge, and he was given 6 months probation.
This was not the first time that Lopez was arrested for being passed out behind the wheel. On 11/16/2015, Lopez was found at 8th & Demonbreun stopped in a lane of traffic passed out behind the wheel with the vehicle running. At that time he admitted to have consumed too much alcohol, and blew a 0.124 on the breathalyzer.
