North Dakota Republican Urged to Resign After Public Tirade

The number of public officials who get caught losing it on police officers when they get stopped is beyond disturbing.

That is especially the case when it is a Republican, whose party has always supported law enforcement and are supposed to be above the “you know who I am” nonsense.

Such is the case for North Dakota State Rep. Nico Rios, who went on an abusive, homophobic rampage after being stopped for an apparent DUI.

Time to Resign

According to the report, Rios had been stopped for a suspected DUI earlier in December.

When the officer stopped Rios, he reportedly went off on a disgusting rant, with the local police report stating that Rios was “verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory."

The report went on to say that Rios was, in fact, arrested and charged on December 15 for drunk driving.

After the report surfaced, North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor led the charge to have Rios resign his seat.

Lefor stated, “There is no room in the legislature, or our party, for this behavior.

"I understand people make mistakes, but his comments and defiance to law enforcement are beyond the pale. In addition, any lawmaker attempting to use his or her elected position to threaten anyone or skirt the law is completely unacceptable."

Rios has not hinted that he plans on resigning after having only been elected to office in 2022.

Instead, he issued an apology on X, stating, “I owe it to myself, my district, and everyone and I vow to make sure this never happens again.

“Moving forward after this night I feel like I have to emphasize my complete and total commitment to supporting Law Enforcement. I messed up big time and I am truly sorry.”

Rios is next scheduled to appear before the court on February 5, 2024 for a pretrial conference.