Texas Gov. candidate Allen West considers his wife’s DWI arrest “insidious”

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The wife of Texas Republican candidate Allen West was arrested in Dallas County for allegedly intoxicated driving Friday night, according to the Dallas Police Department and West himself.

Angela Graham-West, 61, was on her way home from dinner at PF Changs with her three-month-old grandson when she was arrested and arrested by an alleged DWI. She was accused of driving intoxicated with a 15-year-old.

Graham-West was released from prison Saturday around 1 p.m., according to West, who posted a video on Instagram Saturday morning from the Dallas County Jail. In the video, West angrily denied that his wife had been drinking.

West, the former leader of the Texas Republican Party, said he had been to Waco having dinner with Ted Nugent when he returned to Dallas to find that his wife had been arrested.

He said in the video that he had talked to people who were having dinner with his wife and grandson who told him he only had water and lemonade. West provided a photo of the receipt in the grandstand, which shows a lemonade, but does not include any alcoholic beverages.

In the video, West said he was especially angry that his grandson was standing on the side of the road with a police officer while officers were taking his wife to jail.

“I support the thin blue line, but that’s insidious,” West said. “They endangered my grandson, left him with a couple of police officers and took his grandmother to jail and he had water and lemonade … I’m more than legal.”

Dallas police said in a statement to the Tribune that they arrested Graham-West on the 2300 block of West Northwest Highway at 8:44 p.m., and that the officer “had reason to believe the driver could be intoxicated.”

Police said Graham-West underwent a field sobriety test, “which subsequently led to his arrest for DWI.”

In a text message to the Tribune, Allen West said his wife was arrested for not using a turn signal to change lanes, but that she had “no problem” with field sobriety or blood alcohol tests. He said he refused a blood test, but an officer obtained an order to do so.

Dallas police said West’s grandson was released from his father. West said her daughter and husband picked up her grandson from the car by the side of the road.

West announced he was running for president on July 4, a few days before he resigned from the state party to begin his challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican.

Graham-West ran for Garland City Council earlier this year, but did not run in the by-elections.

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