Ephrata man allegedly uses brother's name during DUI stop

EPHRATA — A Ephrata man allegedly identified himself as his brother during a DUI stop because he had prior DUI convictions and didn’t want to return to jail.

Grant County prosecutors charged Marcus Garcia, 25, of Ephrata, with first-degree criminal impersonation, DUI and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.

On Nov. 21, 2015 a officer with the Quincy Police Department assisted a deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office on a DUI call on Sixth Avenue Southeast and F Street Southeast, in Quincy. The driver, Garcia, was pulled over after reportedly passing over the fog line five separate times between Road O Northwest and Road P Northwest, as well as speeding. Garcia initially identified himself as Desmond Garcia, his brother, when he was pulled over, according to police records.

Garcia advised he would submit to standardized field sobriety tests, as police could reportedly smell a strong odor of alcohol on him and his eyes were watery and bloodshot. He allegedly failed a couple of the tests and his preliminary breath test came back at .189. Adult drivers age 21 and older can be charged with DUI in Washington if the results of their breath or blood test indicate the amount of alcohol in their blood is .08 or higher, according to the state Department of Licensing. Based on the observations made in the other tests and his blood alcohol level, Garcia was arrested for DUI.

He was transported to the Quincy Police Department to be processed for DUI and the deputy learned Desmond Garcia was actually Marcus Garcia, according to police records. When Garcia was asked what his real name was he allegedly still claimed to be Desmond Garcia. After he was shown a previous jail booking photo Garcia admitted to using his brother’s name and said he did so because he knew he had prior DUI convictions and didn’t want to return to jail.

Because Garcia had provided false information, police were forced to complete a new DUI packet and get two new breath samples from him with the correction information. He allegedly refused and became agitated with QPD officers. He eventually complied and blew a .156 in the first test and a 1.55 in the second test. Police further learned that Garcia’s driver's license indicated he was required to have an ignition interlock system in his vehicle and he had a suspended license.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.