Salon.com > Drunk Driving

Reese Witherspoon’s arrest video released

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:48:00 +0000

Celebrity gossip site TMZ has released the full video of Reese Witherspoon's now-notorious arrest in Atlanta on April 19, and it is as embarrassing for Witherspoon as she claims.

In it, she accuses a police officer of "harassing me as an American citizen" and challenging his authority in a minute-long tirade.

Witherspoon, who was charged with disorderly conduct, acted out when police pulled over her husband James Toth and on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Update: TMZ has obtained another video from law enforcement, this one featuring a sound byte of Witherspoon and her husband in the backseat of the police car.

Facebook brag about drunk driving gets teen arrested

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Teenagers are famous (infamous?) for doing stupid things and bragging about them online. But Oregon teen Jacob Cox-Brown might have gone too far when he posted on Facebook about drunkenly hitting another car and driving off.

"Drivin drunk... classic ;) but to whoever's vehicle i hit i am sorry. :P," the 18-year-old wrote on his Facebook page. His friends might have laughed, but the cops didn't. As the Daily Dot reported:

"Astoria Police have an active social media presence," a press release from the police department trumpeted. "It was a private Facebook message to one of our officers that got this case moving through."

City of Astoria police went to Cox-Brown's home and discovered damage on his vehicle matched that of a report from hit-and-run activity in a nearby neighborhood earlier in the day. He was then arrested and booked on two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver.

A police spokesperson told local news station KGW-TV that a Facebook post isn't sufficient evidence to charge Cox-Brown for driving while intoxicated, so he'll likely just get a slap on the wrist.

Sen. Mike Crapo apologizes for DUI arrest

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, apologized for his arrest for drunk driving in a D.C. suburb on Sunday, saying in a statement, "I accept total responsibility and will deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter."

Crapo was arrested at 12:45 a.m. on Sunday morning in Alexandria, Va., and charged with driving under the influence.

A statement on the Alexandria Police Department website describes the incident:

"An officer was on routine patrol when he noticed a vehicle go through a red traffic signal. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle at Hume Avenue and Mount Vernon Avenue. Sen. Crapo was identified as the driver and arrested after failing several field sobriety tests. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Alexandria Adult Detention Center where he was released on a $1,000 unsecured bond."

Crapo had a blood alcohol content level of 0.11 at the time of the arrest, according to the statement, and was alone in the vehicle at the time. He has a court date set for January 4, 2013.

Is Amanda Bynes the new Lindsay?

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Are all child stars destined to hit rock-bottom? Most recently, Amanda Bynes, former Nickelodeon star and "Forbes richest under 21" lister has been gunning for Lohan's title of "celebrity train wreck," racking up multiple DUIs and hit-and-runs. Her latest misdemeanor involves driving illegally (her license was suspended in August) while TMZ has suggested that she was smoking weed, and now reports another hit-and-run. A source spoke about her rapid downfall, telling RadarOnline that, "She has been told by her agent and her dad Rick that she has substance abuse issues and needs to get help. She's a lost little girl right now."

She tried to run me over!

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Cary,

I think my dear friend is an alcoholic and a child in a grown woman's body. But I don't know how to help or deliver the soul-shaking wake-up call I think she deserves.

We had made plans to hang out the other night. I thought we should walk to the bar section of town; we don't live very far away at all – a 10-minute walk at most. But my friend hates walking. She convinced the rest of us to let her drive, I'm not sure how. Actually she convinced me that she would park downtown and walk home afterward (a detail that will be more significant in a minute). And I was easily swayed because she has a brand-new Beamer - I'm distracted by shiny things. But on our way downtown we discovered that the can of pop she had been brandishing, that now rested in her cup-holder, was not a pop at all but a brewski. But I wasn't too phased at the moment and I was admittedly amused by her brazen and carefree attitude, and she backed this up by frequent protests that she didn't "give a shit." (I didn't find out until later, by way of her bragging, how much beer she had consumed before picking us up – she hid it well, for a little while at least.)