State Representative Mariana Sandoval warned officers that she was a lawmaker and threatened to call the police chief after being pulled over for wrong-way driving in late 2024, according to records obtained by FOIAzona.
Sandoval, a Democrat, was pulled over by law enforcement the morning of October 30, 2024, at the intersection of Lilac Street and Cotton Lane, where she was caught driving on the wrong side of the road. She was cited for both wrong-way driving and failing to obey a traffic control device.
The incident report at the Goodyear Police Department states simply that her “vehicle went around traffic control devices blocking eastbound traffic driving in wrong side of roadway.”
But body-worn camera footage obtained by this blog reveals a much more contentious interaction between Sandoval and the officers at the scene.
On the first officer’s bodycam, Sandoval can be seen refusing instructions to reverse her car so that she isn’t stalled in the intersection. When she finally complies, he approaches the vehicle and begins speaking to her. The first few seconds of the video are muted until the sound is activated.
“Do you understand what you just did?” the officer asks (amid crosstalk). “You went into oncoming traffic. You went on the wrong side of the road … The fact that you’re a state representative does not mean that you get to do whatever you want. That is the very first thing you said to me. And you said you’re calling the chief.”
Sandoval complains that “you came at me aggressively and rude … You didn’t ask me. You yelled at me.”
Later in the video, the officer explains what happened to his colleagues: “The very first thing she said when I walked up to her car was, ‘I’m State Representative Sandoval … I’m calling the chief of police about this.’” He emphasizes that Sandoval was “using her title to get out of a ticket.”
At the end of the second bodycam footage, a female officer walks to Sandoval’s vehicle and knocks on the door, but the state representative does not roll down the window. She knocks again, at which point the Sandoval (texting someone inside the car) rolls it down, and the officer hands her paperwork and says: “Here’s your license back. Here’s your citation for today.” Sandoval responds halfway through: “Are you kidding me?” The officer asks if she has “any questions.” Sandoval, facing away, shakes her head and silently rolls up her window.
FOIAzona also obtained court records related to the incident. A Goodyear Municipal Court judge found Sandoval responsible for the wrong-way driving charge and imposed $974.60 in fines/sanctions.
At one point, Sandoval sent an email requesting “an extension to the community service” because “I am nowhere close to completing the hours or traffic school course.” The judge denied her request and ordered that she “provide proof of the hours completed.” Cesar Aguilar, Sandoval’s Democratic colleague in the Arizona House of Representatives, told the court four days later that she had completed 20 hours of community service for his nonprofit.
Sandoval appealed Goodyear Municipal Court’s decision to Maricopa County Superior Court, for which she hired Julie Gunnigle — the far-left two-time Maricopa County Attorney candidate — as her lawyer. They lost the appeal.
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