\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA Cape Coral woman and her mother are demanding accountability after what they say was a humiliating and traumatic mistake \u2014 being arrested for DUI after a medical emergency that caused her to crash into a canal.On Aug. 13, Izabella Montero\u2019s life changed forever. The mother of three had just given birth less than three months earlier when her car veered off the road and plunged into a Cape Coral canal along Southwest Second Terrace around 7 p.m. after picking up dinner for her husband and kids. \u201cI was supposed to be at my son\u2019s birthday party,\u201d Montero said. \u201cInstead, I was being bailed out of jail for the first time in my life. I don\u2019t even know how to explain it.\u201dCape Coral police arrested Montero on suspicion of driving under the influence, noting in their report that she had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and smelled of alcohol.But Montero\u2019s mother, Norma Alvarez, said she immediately knew what had really happened.\u201cI said, \u2018Bella, you had a seizure,\u2019\u201d Alvarez recalled. \u201cI was epileptic for many years. I know what seizures are like. She hadn\u2019t had one since she was 9 years old, but I knew. She was exhausted, postpartum, and had anemia.\u201dMontero maintains that she told officers repeatedly that she hadn\u2019t been drinking. At the hospital, she says she begged for a breathalyzer and drug test to prove her innocence. Officers said they could not do a breathalyzer inside the hospital, but she offered to do it outside and even asked for one at the jail.\u201cI told them, \u2018Just do whatever you want so I can go home to my kids,\u2019\u201d Montero said. \u201cI begged them to drug test me.\u201dOfficers did do a horizontal eye test, which she failed.According to Cape Coral Police, officers developed probable cause to make the arrest during their investigation. However, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) later confirmed Montero had zero alcohol in her system.The State Attorney\u2019s Office dropped all charges on Nov. 3, citing insufficient evidence.Montero has now filed formal complaints against three Cape Coral police officers, including Officer Riley Houlihan, calling for an internal investigation into how her case was handled.In her complaint, Montero alleges that after fracturing her spine in the crash, she screamed in pain but was ignored. She claims one officer told her, \u201c(Expletive) her back,\u201d and refused to help, saying he \u201cwouldn\u2019t get his uniform wet.\u201d\u201cMy tax dollars pay his salary,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cAnd he failed her. He failed her. I will not pay his salary anymore.\u201dThe ordeal left Montero publicly humiliated. She says she couldn\u2019t go anywhere in Lee County without feeling judged.\u201cEveryone I know saw it,\u201d she said. \u201cMy kids\u2019 teachers, their therapist, people at Publix \u2014 everyone looked at me like I was a criminal.\u201dBecause of the attention and embarrassment, Montero has since moved her family out of Lee County.Her mother hopes their story will spark change.\u201cAs God wakes me up in the morning,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cHer story ends with her. It ends here with us.\u201dDOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A Cape Coral woman and her mother are demanding accountability after what they say was a humiliating and traumatic mistake \u2014 being arrested for DUI after a medical emergency that caused her to crash into a canal.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 13, Izabella Montero\u2019s life changed forever. The mother of three had just given birth less than three months earlier when her car veered off the road and plunged into a Cape Coral canal along Southwest Second Terrace around 7 p.m. after picking up dinner for her husband and kids. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was supposed to be at my son\u2019s birthday party,\u201d Montero said. \u201cInstead, I was being bailed out of jail for the first time in my life. I don\u2019t even know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cape Coral police arrested Montero on suspicion of driving under the influence, noting in their report that she had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and smelled of alcohol.<\/p>\n
But Montero\u2019s mother, Norma Alvarez, said she immediately knew what had really happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Bella, you had a seizure,\u2019\u201d Alvarez recalled. \u201cI was epileptic for many years. I know what seizures are like. She hadn\u2019t had one since she was 9 years old, but I knew. She was exhausted, postpartum, and had anemia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montero maintains that she told officers repeatedly that she hadn\u2019t been drinking. At the hospital, she says she begged for a breathalyzer and drug test to prove her innocence. <\/p>\n
Officers said they could not do a breathalyzer inside the hospital, but she offered to do it outside and even asked for one at the jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them, \u2018Just do whatever you want so I can go home to my kids,\u2019\u201d Montero said. \u201cI begged them to drug test me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officers did do a horizontal eye test, which she failed.<\/p>\n
According to Cape Coral Police, officers developed probable cause to make the arrest during their investigation. However, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) later confirmed Montero had zero alcohol in her system.<\/p>\n
The State Attorney\u2019s Office dropped all charges on Nov. 3, citing insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n
Montero has now filed formal complaints against three Cape Coral police officers, including Officer Riley Houlihan, calling for an internal investigation into how her case was handled.<\/p>\n
In her complaint, Montero alleges that after fracturing her spine in the crash, she screamed in pain but was ignored. She claims one officer told her, \u201c(Expletive) her back,\u201d and refused to help, saying he \u201cwouldn\u2019t get his uniform wet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy tax dollars pay his salary,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cAnd he failed her. He failed her. I will not pay his salary anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ordeal left Montero publicly humiliated. She says she couldn\u2019t go anywhere in Lee County without feeling judged.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I know saw it,\u201d she said. \u201cMy kids\u2019 teachers, their therapist, people at Publix \u2014 everyone looked at me like I was a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of the attention and embarrassment, Montero has since moved her family out of Lee County.<\/p>\n
Her mother hopes their story will spark change.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs God wakes me up in the morning,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cHer story ends with her. It ends here with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cape Coral woman and her mother are demanding accountability after what they say was a humiliating and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1955,209,211,210,212,25271,1330,25273,1223,104,25272,667,25269,1175,213,1961,25270,1224],"class_list":["post-36698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-alcohol","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-police","tag-cape-coral-woman-talk","tag-charge","tag-drug-test","tag-dui-arrest","tag-entertainment","tag-formal-complaint","tag-investigation","tag-izabella-montero","tag-kid","tag-late-news","tag-mother","tag-norma-alvarez","tag-officer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}