Republican political figures and local media outlets are questioning whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was involved in the seemingly planned law enforcement actions taken against the wife of Texas gubernatorial candidate Allen West and one of West’s top staffers on Friday.
West’s wife was pulled over and arrested for a “traffic violation,” and arrested for suspected driving while under the influence of alcohol, and was separated from her young grandchild by Dallas police. She later provided a P.F. Chang’s receipt showing she had consumed no alcohol, and passed a blood alcohol test with no alcohol in her system. At the same time West’s wife was arrested, a senior staffer for West was pulled over and questioned about driving while under the influence.
In a video posted to social media, West first revealed that his wife had been arrested and separated from her grandchild by Dallas police. He noted that he was “pissed off” and left “beyond livid” by the incident, especially considering his wife had only consumed water and lemonade, not alcohol.
West later produced literal receipts showing that his wife had not consumed any alcohol, and a police-administered blood alcohol test came back “inconclusive” while a private test found that West’s wife had not consumed any alcohol in the past 80 hours. West went on to call for the termination of the black female police officer who handcuffed and arrested Angela West, identified as L. Harris. During the ordeal, West’s wife was separated from her young grandchild, who was kept under the guard of a police officer.
— Allen West (@AllenWest) August 22, 2021
That same night, a senior female staffer of West’s endured a similar ordeal where her vehicle was pulled over and the occupants were aggressively questioned by police. Speaking to National File, the senior staffer stated the following:
“My husband and I were on our way home, about 10 minutes away from home. The police officer was in front of us. My husband moved to get into the lane to go around people, the police officer at that point, when we got behind him to try to go around, switched lanes, turned off his headlights when he was at our rear bumper, got behind us, turned his headlines back on, then turned his sirens on.
“He came around to my side, which I thought was odd because we were in a parking lot. First thing he said was I pulled you over because the light on your license plate was out.”
The officer then suggested the driver of the vehicle, the senior staffer’s husband, was under the influence of alcohol. The officer then made the occupants of the vehicle recite the alphabet from B to F, and count backwards from 63 to 48, before demanding to see license and registration papers. The charge of DUI with a child in the car carries a mandatory jail sentence in Texas.
Coupled with the arrest of Angela West at almost exactly the same time Friday night, the senior staffer was left feeling relieved that she had multiple witnesses in the car, but concerned that the two incidents may not have been coincidental. “I’m just glad I was with somebody. There were 3 of us in the car. It’s a whole lot different when you’re by yourself, it’s just you, and they can edit video as we’ve all seen,” the senior staffer told National File. “Two of the most prominent women in Allen West’s life get pulled over in the same night, within the same hour?”
Local media outlet Current Revolt has reported that the incidents could be related to Lt. Col. West’s bid to challenge incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in the Texas GOP Primary.
Additionally, U.S. Congressional candidate Jarome Bell called out Abbott by name in a tweet this week, writing “@GregAbbott_TX – Did your Admin or campaign thugs have ANYTHING to do with this? Ms. West was Stone. Cold. SOBER, and looks it, to me. You’d do well to clean your own house, and FAST.”
Did your Admin or campaign thugs have ANYTHING to do with this?
Ms. West was Stone. Cold. SOBER, and looks it, to me.
You'd do well to clean your own house, and FAST. https://t.co/QLXIWm4txe
— Jarome Bell (@JaromeBellVA) August 22, 2021
West recently appeared on National File TV to discuss voter fraud, election integrity, and a range of issues affecting both residents of Texas and citizens across the United States. He announced his bid to become Governor of Texas the next day.
