Arizona state Rep. David Cook issued a public apology Thursday night for being arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI.
"I learned a valuable lesson the hard way," Cook wrote on his Facebook page. "No lunch, no dinner and some drinks with friends sounds harmless enough, but get behind the wheel and try to drive home and you're taking a chance you just shouldn't take."
"I'm lucky, because I got pulled over and got a DUI, but there was no accident, no one got hurt, etc. I'll be paying a real price for it, and it's a humiliating experience for sure... I apologize to all of you because I hold myself to a higher standard and I've let everyone down, friends and family alike," Cook added.
State Department of Public Safety officials said a trooper stopped Cook after seeing his car swerving and drifting from lane to lane on the Loop 202 freeway in Mesa on Wednesday night.
They say the trooper smelled alcohol, observed signs that Cook was impaired and conducted a field sobriety test on the Republican lawmaker from Globe.
DPS paperwork showed Cook's blood-alcohol content was measured between 0.15 and 0.19 percent — far above Arizona's legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent for drivers.
The trooper also reported that Cook was belligerent to him.
"The DPS officers who handled the matter behaved professionally and did their job well. I didn't request or receive any sort of special treatment as a result of holding office, as it should be," Cook said on Facebook. "I'll be facing a judge and very real consequences."
House Speaker-elect Rusty Bowers said in a statement that he was "disappointed and saddened by Representative Cook for failing to meet the standard expected of all Arizonans, much less an elected official."
Bowers said he planned to speak to his colleagues and Cook about the incident before announcing any action the House will take.
Cook has been a member of the state House since 2017 representing Arizona's 8th Legislative District, which includes parts of Pinal and Gila counties, and was re-elected last month.