HOUSTON – A veteran Houston police officer has been relieved of duty after being arrested twice by Pasadena police within a span of three weeks.
The first arrest was on July 29 at around 2 a.m. Pasadena police said Gena Rodriquez was a passenger in a car that parked in a handicapped parking space outside a Pasadena sports bar called Broadway Buffalo Wings in the 1500 block of Southmore Avenue.
A Pasadena officer who was there making an unrelated DWI arrest told the driver to move his car, but the man identified himself as the bar’s manager and hurried inside.
Police said Rodriguez then slipped behind the steering wheel of his car, but the Pasadena policeman told her not to move the car.
“He said you might go in and get him and tell him to come out here I need to talk to him,” Pasadena police spokesman Vance Mitchell said. “She said, ‘If you want him go in and get him yourself.’ Very disrespectful to our officer.”
There were more words, and the officer ordered Rodriguez out of the car.
According to Pasadena police, Rodriguez refused. When the Pasadena officer tried to force her out, she she allegedly grabbed the steering wheel and began kicking him.
“He had the door open at that point trying to get her hands off the steering wheel which she did not follow commands,” Mitchell said. “Eventually they did get her out of the car, just as they were taking her out, she told them, ‘oh wait, wait, wait, wait, I’m a Houston police officer.’”
Rodriguez was charged with interfering with a public servant.
Almost three weeks later, on Aug. 16, a different Pasadena officer stopped Rodriguez in the 1700 block of Southmore Avenue at 2:38 a.m. The officer allegedly noticed Rodriguez’s car weaving as she drove down Southmore and then turned onto Zepher Street.
Again, police said Rodriquez did not cooperate, at one point locking her car door and refusing to get out.
“She was very argumentative with the officers. Did not want to follow commands at all. Finally we did get her out of the car,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said Rodriguez failed a field sobriety test, which she refused to complete, and refused a breathalyzer test.
Pasadena police got a warrant to take a blood sample. They say analysis of Rodriguez’s blood proved she was driving drunk. She was charged with driving while intoxicated.
“She was intoxicated," Mitchell said. “I don't know the exact number but she was intoxicated.”
Rodriguez was relieved of duty with pay by the Houston Police Department on July 30, the day after her first arrest. The department’s internal affairs division is currently investigating both incidents.
Rodriguez is an 11-year veteran of HPD who worked in the South Central Patrol Division. A call to her attorney Tuesday has not been returned.