Lawyer Anne Bremner tries to block records about DUI arrest

High-profile Seattle trial attorney Anne Bremner is seeking a court injunction to block the King County Sheriff's Office from releasing to the media investigative reports and video from her arrest on suspicion of drunken driving two months ago in Kenmore.

In an interview, Bremner says she had drinks with dinner the night of June 3, but was not drunk. Instead, she says she was the victim of a hit-and-run accident before her arrest and suffered a brain injury, resulting in behavior that mimicked the signs of alcohol impairment.

She says she is seeking the court order to avoid negative publicity that could damage her reputation as a legal expert.

But in court documents, the Sheriff's Office stated Bremner didn't report being in an accident or request medical attention at the time of her arrest. She was pulled over because a deputy spotted her driving her BMW with a flattened tire, according to the Sheriff's Office. Once she was stopped, Bremner showed signs of impairment, the Sheriff's Office said.

"This is a straightforward DUI from our standpoint," said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart.

The Sheriff's Office sent results of its investigation to the Kenmore city prosecutor, but no charges have been filed, according to Urquhart and court records. Bremner was booked into the King County Jail just after 2 a.m. June 4 — her 52nd birthday — and was released less than five hours later, jail records show.

Bremner is a well-known defense attorney who has often appeared on cable and national television stations to offer legal analysis. According to her website, she covered the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial in 2005 for CNN and has appeared on TruTV, "Good Morning America" and Fox News. Over the course of her 26-year career, she's represented numerous police agencies, officers and sheriff's deputies.

She was also co-chairwoman for the Committee for a Two Newspaper Town, which intervened in a legal fight between The Times and The Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in what was ultimately an unsuccessful bid to keep both newspapers alive.

Bremner, during an interview Wednesday in the office of her friend, public-relations specialist Mark Firmani, said she was disoriented and confused and was unable to tell anyone she was hurt because of her head injury.

"I was not in a position to save myself because I had my bell rung," she said.

Bremner, an attorney with the Stafford Frey Cooper law firm, said she's fighting the release of the records "because I don't believe there's a compelling public interest in my records, and I have a right to privacy just like anybody else."

On June 25, Bremner filed a motion in King County Superior Court seeking to keep the records from being disclosed. She argued that the release of the documents would subject her to embarrassment and ridicule.

Three days later, she filed a second complaint seeking the injunction.

A King County judge is to rule later this month on Bremner's motion for a preliminary injunction that would bar release of the arrest report and video. Three media outlets — KIRO-TV, The Times and seattlepi.com — have requested the documents.

According to the account outlined in Bremner's filings, she was the victim of a serious hit-and-run accident and suffered a brain injury on the night of her arrest. Three of her car's tires were blown out, and the vehicle's undercarriage was damaged. She said she called 911 twice.

Bremner's lawyers have also filed a declaration from Dr. Philip Lindsay, a neurologist and psychiatrist she saw June 8, four days after her arrest. Lindsay documented "numerous signs of a concussion," including memory loss and loss of consciousness, the court papers say.

Later June 8, Lindsay sent Bremner to Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, where she was diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome, and a head scan showed fluid in her brain, the declaration says.

According to court records and an interview with Urquhart, the sheriff's spokesman, Deputy Brandon Moen was on another traffic stop in the 8000 block of Northeast Bothell Way just after midnight June 4 when a BMW with a flat tire slowly drove by. The sound of the flat caught the deputy's attention.

The deputy stopped the driver "to ask why she was driving on a flat right front tire."

"It was obvious to the arresting deputy that the person had been drinking," Urquhart said, declining to elaborate.

The driver refused to take field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, he said. At no time did the driver indicate she'd been in an accident or that she'd been injured — even when she was asked before being placed in a holding cell, Urquhart said.

Information from the State Patrol's crime lab shows that a white female with Bremner's date of birth was administered two Breathalyzer tests just after 1 a.m. June 4. Moen is listed as the deputy operating the Breathalyzer machine.

The report did not include Bremner's name.

The woman made five "breath attempts" on the first test, which gave incomplete results, the document shows. After a second test and two more breath attempts, the document indicates she refused to continue. As a result, her blood-alcohol content is not listed on the State Patrol log of breath tests.

Wednesday, Bremner acknowledged she refused to complete the Breathalyzer test, but declined to discuss certain details of the night because of her legal challenge.

In the hours before her arrest, Bremner said she was with a group of female judges and attorneys who've met every two months for the past several years. "It was low key," she said. "Everyone had one cocktail before dinner," and drank "under two glasses of wine each" with the meal.

No one was impaired, she said.

After dinner, she said she was on her way to spend the night at the house of a friend, also a member of the group, who lives in the Bothell-Kenmore area, when she was hit by another vehicle.

Though Bremner said she remembers "being startled by seeing somebody right outside my vehicle," she said she doesn't remember the crash. However, she allowed a reporter to listen to recordings of two 911 calls she placed.

In the first call, at 11:12 p.m. June 3, Bremner told the dispatcher, "I have a flat tire and I'm stuck." She was given a phone number for AAA. In the second call, at 11:15 p.m., when asked what road she was on, Bremner replied: "I have no idea."

About an hour later, Bremner said she was approached by Moen as she sat in her disabled car, which she said was parked.

"With a concussion, the problem is you don't know what's going on," she said.

"I was unable to relay that to the officer. He's not a mind reader. I wasn't asked if I was hurt and I didn't indicate I was injured."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com