Nevada state senator faces DUI charge after falling asleep at Las Vegas stoplight

Posted By: EN Todayon: September 15, 2025In: General Energy News, Oil & Gas News

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Democratic Nevada state senator faces a DUI charge after Las Vegas Metro police found him asleep at the wheel at a stoplight, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.

Police arrested State Sen. Edgar Flores, 39, on Friday morning around 3 a.m. near the intersection of Lamb and Lake Mead boulevards on suspicion of DUI. Flores told police he drank a 24-ounce beer earlier that night, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

The officer noted Flores was stopped “in the roadway” and “in a travel lane,” and “displayed droopy eyes, slow speech, delayed responses and confusion,” documents said.

Flores was later booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a misdemeanor DUI charge. Flores was not charged with a crime and, per state law, was allowed to leave the jail after a blood draw without posting bail or seeing a judge.

In a phone call with the 8 News Now Investigators, Flores was remorseful for falling asleep and said he was not impaired.

“I am not suggesting that anybody should be driving that tired. It was 100% my fault,” Flores said. “I was just way too tired. Driving tired is dangerous, and I should not have been in that position. Luckily, it was just me sleeping, but still, in another scenario, you could be swerving or hit a car, so there are other scenarios where this could have been bad.”

Flores was confident that he could not face the DUI charge after tests were completed, he said — a process that could take months. Flores added that a breathalyzer test showed he was not impaired, however, documents said he refused a “preliminary breath test” and “performed [standard field sobriety tests] unsatisfactorily.”

An 8 News Now investigation from March found Metro’s average blood-alcohol testing turnaround time for that month was 55 days. The department estimates the turnaround time for drug toxicology was 90 days that month.

Because of the delays, Flores was not due to appear in court until January. Prosecutors could drop the DUI charge or amend it before then.

After the 8 News Now Investigators first reported news of Flores’ arrest on Monday, Flores’ campaign released a thorough statement:

Senator Edgar Flores was stopped early Friday morning after a long day of work, community events, evening exercise, and a late dinner. He fully cooperated with law enforcement, voluntarily submitted to both a breathalyzer and a blood test at the station, and was released on his own recognizance. The breathalyzer confirmed a 0.00 BAC, and we are confident the blood test will confirm the same.

The senator acknowledges he was tired. While he and his team respect the officers’ diligence in ensuring public safety, our campaign is also reviewing whether his rights and privacy were properly respected.

Senator Flores remains fully focused on serving the community, as he has for more than 10 years as an assemblyman, state senator and immigration attorney.

Edgar Flores for State Senate District 2

Flores, who represents northeastern Clark County, is an attorney. Voters first elected him to the Nevada Assembly in 2014. Voters later elected him as a state senator in 2022. Flores planned to run for re-election in 2026, he said.

Last legislative session, Flores, along with all his state senate colleagues except one, voted to pass increased DUI penalties for second-time offenders. The law, which started as Senate Bill 309, increased jail time from 10 days to 20 days for drivers found guilty of their second DUI within seven years.

The change in the sentencing was the only meaningful change to Nevada’s DUI laws in a session focused on tougher consequences.

Flores faces a DUI charge and was not officially charged as of Monday. This is common practice with DUI cases as prosecutors await blood results. A status check in the case was scheduled for Jan. 12.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com.