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Copyright © 2019 Albuquerque Journal

When an Albuquerque police officer saw David Serna, appearing intoxicated and getting into his vehicle in a Whole Foods parking lot Sunday, he told Serna he shouldn’t be driving and called him an Uber, according to court documents.

Serna, a well-known criminal defense attorney, left in the ride sharing vehicle but had the driver return him to his car minutes later, only to be arrested for drinking and driving, police said.

“He told me that he is a DWI attorney and he knew that he should not drive the vehicle at that time,” the arresting officer wrote in a criminal complaint.

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Serna, 65, told officers he had been drinking before he drove to the grocery store on Carlisle just south of Interstate 40 to pick up flowers for his girlfriend. A uniformed officer working overtime at the store saw “an intoxicated male subject” get into the driver’s seat and warned him he should not be driving, the complaint says.

The same officer pulled Serna over when he returned to the store 10 minutes later and tried to drive away.

“He told the Uber driver to drive back and drop him off at the listed business so that he could drive his car to see his girlfriend,” another officer wrote in the criminal complaint.

Serna performed poorly on field sobriety tests, and a breath test later showed his blood-alcohol level was over the legal limit, police said.

Serna was ordered to be released on his own recognizance Tuesday morning, according to court documents, but MDC records showed he was still in custody Tuesday evening. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

Serna is perhaps best-known for his representation of Levi Chavez, an Albuquerque police officer charged in the death of his wife and later acquitted.

Online court records show Serna was accused of DWI in 1991, and the case was dismissed after he completed counseling and treatment.