Highway safety director apologizes for chiding Hispanics - New Jersey

“The head of the state Highway Traffic Safety Division apologized yesterday for telling a Spanish-language newspaper Hispanic immigrants need to remember they cant drive drunk and then bribe police to avoid arrest like they did in their old countries.

“They ought to remember that now they are not in Latin America where if there is a problem due to driving drunk one pays the police so they will look the other way,” Roberto Rodriguez is quoted as saying in the biweekly newspaper Reporte Hispano. “Hispanics should accustom themselves to the culture of the USA, its norms and its rules. Here, if you drive drunk they will catch you and put you in jail.”

He also told the newspaper: “In the Latino community people don’t drink to feel happy, but to get drunk. This is not a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that many drive drunk.”"

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