Randy Travis arrested for NOT driving drunk – video
By Alexandra Heilbron on February 16, 2012 | 23 Comments
Although Country superstar Randy Travis had been drinking, he decided to quietly sleep it off in his car, parked in a church parking lot, when Texas police officers approached the vehicle and asked him for identification. The dashcam video was acquired by KCENTV.com yesterday (see below). In it, Officer Carl Parker knocked on the window and asked Travis what was going on. Travis replied, “Oh, I was asleep.” Unable to find his ID, he told the officer his name, then was asked if he’d had anything to drink. Travis politely replied, “Yes, sir, I have. But I am not driving, as you can see.” The officers asked Travis to get out of the car and informed him, “Here’s what’s going to happen tonight. You’re going to go to jail for public intoxication.” Travis, astounded, replied, “Really? Are you kidding me?” When they moved him into position to handcuff him, he asked, “You fixing to put handcuffs on me, are you? Is that what you’re fixing to do?” At one point, Travis mentioned that he’d had an argument with his fiancée. After arriving at the jail, Travis complained, “Yeah, put these [expletive] handcuffs on somebody who — yeah, I’m about as threatening as a cat.” Were the police out of line? If someone is intoxicated, but has decided to be responsible and sleep it off in his own vehicle, should he be arrested?[poll id=”351″]
I don’t know about the law in Texas, but in many other states, being in personal vehicle is not considered public, since you have an expectation of privacy. Now the only thing he could probably be arrested for might be “trespassing on private property”, but not “public intoxication”
I do not agree that Randy Travis should be arrested for anything. Drinking or drunk (?) he did have the good sense not to endanger his or other peoples lives … he did the responsible thing by sleeping it off. If the laws allow for someone to arrested and charged for public intoxication under these circumstances …. these laws should be changed. Drunk driving laws are to protect other people and Randy Travis was NOT driving drunk or doing anything that would be endangering or bothering anybody.
Isn’t a bar a public place too? Let’s arrest all those drunkards too. There’s no way they can get away with this
I dunno I think he deserved to get arrested. He must have gotten his car to the church somehow…it didn’t fly there so he probably drove it there, drunk. And he planned to drive again at some point in the near future, probably when he was still drunk. I think the cops were right in taking him in to prevent him from drinking and driving after they left. Totally makes sense to me
TEXAS! Enough said people.
No way should he have been arrested. He was doing the right thing and not driving. Fine way to make people want to be responsible if they get arrested anyway!!! It’s stupid.
Although I agree with all of you that it is ridiculous to arrest someone who is acting responsibly in not driving drunk, the law is the same in our province in Quebec, Canada.
Anyone who is found drunk behind the wheel is arrested even if the vehicle is stationary and the contact is off.
If we take a good look at our laws, the hairs on our heads would turn grey.
I think a good slap-of-the-wrist should suffice here….he did pull over to sleep it off.
I can’t believe people thinking Mr. Travis should not be accountable for his action. How are the police to know if he would not drive the car after they leave. Drinking in public seems to be the wrong charge because he was in his car. He was not asked to use the breathalyzer because he was not driving. The police showed courtesy, doing their duty. I get annoyed how celebrities throw their name around like its an automatic “I’m above the law” notice, The ordinary guy could have done exactly the same thing and the same thing would happen to him, is Mr Travis better than you or me? With his kind of money I’m sure he could have called a cab or even have a limo driver on staff. I’m not even getting to the “no identification problem”, that would be another law broken.
Ridiculous. Don’t they have better things to do with their time?
He should’ve just said “Do you know who I am” That would have been classic. I say send the sucker to jail!
Anonymous – “it didn��t fly there so he probably drove it there, drunk”.
This is Why we all give of our opinions, as much as possible. So we learn of other People’s viewpoints that we just cannot think of. You’ve got a point there, Anonomous. He shouldn’t have driven drunk BeFore he parked his car. He could have gone to a nearby motel to sleep it off as well. With the amount of money he has, he could have easily done that! Stop and Think of Solutions If time permits!
I think the police was being out of line. He was being responsible by sleeping off his drunken state. To arrest someone based on “What if he drove after the police left” is a total abuse of the power of the law.
We can’t accuse people based on “What if” they do something. This goes against the very bases of the American justice system…that a person is persumed innocent until proven quilty. The only he was guilty of is sleeping in his car…not driving drunk.
In Ontario, Canada it is illegal to be sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated, the car does not need to be in motion or even turned on–he would have been rightfully arrested. I’m sure that if he been sleeping in the passenger’s seat, in the driveway of where he had the fight, and had not driven at all, he could question it. Illegal is illegal. It does not matter if the police are looking right at you doing it or not, if it is reasonable to assume that you did do something illegal, for the safety of all people and families on the road, they’re obligated to make an arrest.
So you get in a fight with your wife. You leave the house not to escalate things. You realized you have forgotten your wallet at home with your “I.D.” and money. So you decide to go sleep it off at a friends place. I mean you don’t have money for a motel and someone might recognize you and ask you a bunch of questions that you don’t have the energy for. On your way to your friends you realize you are a bit drunk and sleepy so you decide to pull into a safe place where parking is always free to sleep it off. Low and behold the police show up to wave their small dicks around.
The only thing the common man would not have to worry about is the recognition. Think about your responses, it is only because he is a celebrity that this video shows up on here anyway. Can’t do anything right these days.
James….the last time I check, Texas is not in Ontario,Canada. Each country have their own laws.
Randy’s so rich he will fight it or sue them ?
HOW DID HE GET TO THE CHURCH PARKING LOT? He obviously drove there… Probably couldn’t drive straight THEN had the “good sense” to park his car and sleep it off.
…He obviously drove drunk in the first place, he’s lucky he’s only being charged with public intoxication.
Exactly…unless he was coming from an event at the church he drove drunk. Just cause he was finally sensible to pull over doesn’t mean that he didn’t do the wrOng thing in the first place. And he likely would have slept to a point where he thought he was fine (but was still drunk) and drove again. All of you who are so proud of him wouldn’t be feeling the sane way if he hit you or someone you love on the way home, now would you. It’s easy to be forgiving when he appears to be trying to do the right thing but if he did wrong in the first place…wrong is wrong. If police left him there and he drove and killed someone then they’d be responsible for not doing their jobs. It is illegal to be drunk at the wheel of any vehicle, parked or moving, running or not. he should have called a cab like everyone else should too.
Yes driving drunk is wrong. But how many drunks tell themselves while they are driving “damn I am too drunk to drive”. Mr Travis was smart enough to realize he was drunk perhaps a little too late but he did realize it. He obviously had no money on him, why do people keep saying take a cab. “hi cab company my name is Randy Travis and I don’t have any money right now but I will sing you a purty song”. He could not even prove to the cops he was Randy Travis because he could not produce I.D. therefore, no wallet. How many of you or your family members have left a party not realizing how drunk they were until they are on the road. How many of them would say “okay journeys over let’s take a cab from here”.
Most of them don’t want to stop because they figure since they are already drivng then might as well finish, even when they know they are drunk. Give credit where credit is due. The man made a mistake and tried to correct it and he just had bad luck day.
They should have more of a problem of him possibly driving without i.d. than with him drinking and not driving.
There’s no indication that he’d been driving drunk. He might have parked in the church parkinglot before he went drinking if the bar was nearby. Or if he’d been drinking at his fiancee’s, maybe he parks in the church lot while visiting her if there’s no guest parking. For all anybody knows maybe his fiancee lives right beside the church. They got into a fight and he left. Instead of driving he decided to stay put and sleep it off. Who knows?
He drove the car drunk to the parking lot and in an impaired state he could change his mind and drive again so the Officer did a godd job and probably saved a life in doing so.