LOUISVILLE, Ky. — State Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton, D-Shively, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving in Shively early on the morning of Aug. 27.
The citation said Louisville Metro Police officers arrested her at 1:07 a.m. on Garrs Lane. It says officers were responding to a domestic violence incident when they say they saw Chester-Burton drive her car into the oncoming lanes of traffic. They say she sat there for a minute, forcing an oncoming car to go around her and pass in the opposite oncoming lane.
The citation says the two officers walked up to her car to see if she needed police help when she got out of the car. They say she was speaking with slurred and rapid speech, saying she was coming from Frankfort and that people were calling her and asking what was going on in Shively.
Officers said she smelled “strongly of an alcoholic beverage” and asked her how much she had to drink. They say she never answered directly and refused to take a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer test. After asking her several times to take a field sobriety test, officers say she said she would “beat it like she did the last one,” according to the arrest citation. They also say she tried to get back in her car a few times but was stopped by officers. She then tried to get in the back seat of the car when she almost fell.
According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Burton-Chester was arrested for DUI in 2020 while she was the mayor of Shively.
The citation says Chester-Burton “wanted to call the chief” but she was denied and placed under arrest. She is charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.
Chester-Burton is in her first term as a state representative, representing the 44th District, which covers parts of southwest Jefferson County, including Shively.
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