Comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez was arrested after police allegedly discovered drugs in his vehicle during a traffic stop in Burbank on Friday night.
Burbank Police Sergeant. Stephen Turner said Rodriguez, 70, was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped in the Victor Boulevard and Lamar Street areas around 7:30pm for a “code violation.”
“Drugs were found during the investigation,” Turner said in a statement.
Rodriguez was booked at Burbank Prison for drug possession and the quote that will appear in court next month has been released, Turner said.
Rodriguez tells another version of the story.
He told TMZ that he was sleeping in the passenger seat when a “white” officer from a “powertrip” slapped him to wake him up. Rodriguez told the outlet that drugs belong to the driver of the vehicle.
His lawyer, Bobby Samini, called charges against Rodriguez Fells, calling his arrest and treatment by police “a violation of his civil rights.”
“He was always fully working with law enforcement,” Samini said in a statement. “Law enforcement claimed that the driver of the vehicle was in possession of a controlled substance. Mr. Rodriguez had no controlled substance in his possession, and was not under the influence of the controlled substance.”
Rodriguez, the son of an immigrant farm worker, was born in Mexico before moving to East Los Angeles as a young man. His stand-up career began in the late 1970s with the LA Comedy Club.
Rodriguez’s work includes writing and acting in dozens of films, including his own stand-up comedy special. He also hosted television shows on Univision and MTV. He is known for his roles in films such as “Bloodwork,” “Rat Race,” “The Fastest Indian in the World,” and “Tortilla Soup.”
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