State Rep. Dartez ticketed after hitting pedestrian

State Rep. Carla Dartez was ticketed last Sunday night for improper lane usage after driving onto the shoulder of Bayou Black Road and hitting a pedestrian with her car, authorities confirmed.

The incident happened around 7:45 p.m. on Louisiana Highway 182 in Gibson.

State Police Troop C spokesman Trooper Gilbert Dardar Jr. said.

Dartez was given a field sobriety test, parts of which she failed. At Troop C’s headquarters in Houma, a breath-alyzer test was administered, the results of which were

0.00g percent.

“We’re not certain what led the trooper to suspect she was intoxicated, but the test showed she had no alcohol in her system,”

Dardar said. Dartez was issued a summons for improper lane usage and released, he said.

The state representative told the Associated Press, “I was not drinking. It was just an accident.”

Dartez’s vehicle struck Shina Short, 24, of Gibson. The woman’s arm was broken in the incident.

“I didn’t even see her,” Dartez told the AP. “Thank God she was OK.”

It is not the Morgan City state representative’s first encounter with law enforcement authorities.

In 2003, Dartez suffered four skull fractures and a dislocated shoulder from a motorcycle crash over the Mardi Gras holiday. In 1998, she was booked with a first offense DWI.

A Democrat, Dartez represents Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes in the state House of

Representatives. She is seeking re-election Oct. 20.