On the spookiest night of the year, Marion County deputies encountered a Halloween fright of their own—a 2007 Chrysler parked smack in the middle of an intersection, blocking traffic, and revealing what may be the county’s sleepiest Halloween costume yet: “passed-out driver.” The driver, Carlos Mamerto Luzarraga, apparently opted for a ghostly impersonation behind the wheel—stationary and unresponsive.
Deputies banged on the windows to rouse Luzarraga, who eventually stirred and allegedly attempted to put the vehicle in park, though his motor skills seemed more in line with a ghost drifting aimlessly. After several rounds of field sobriety exercises—including a classic finger-to-nose test where Luzarraga appeared to be aiming for another dimension—deputies determined his performance fell somewhere between “not quite” and “definitely not” sober.
A search of the car revealed Luzarraga’s treat bag for the evening: a “bud” of marijuana, a vape pen with a questionable tan liquid, and a black bag with spoon-like objects covered in crystal residue, which tested positive for meth. Without a medical marijuana card in sight, Luzarraga was transported to Marion County Jail, where he failed to complete a breath test but did manage to refuse a urine sample.
Facing DUI and drug possession charges, Luzarraga’s Halloween antics were officially cut short, and he spent the rest of the evening in a decidedly un-haunted cell.
