It's just now surfacing that former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was arrested for DUI in December.
McNabb's arrest near the Loop 101 by the Salt River police was kept quiet until today, when his mugshot surfaced, as McNabb had to serve his sentence of one day in jail.
McNabb, 37, still owns a house in Chandler, although it's listed for sale.
And, of course, McNabb's nowhere near the first current or retired professional athlete to be popped for DUI in the Phoenix area. McNabb joins the following company:
- Mike Tyson, former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world
- Former Phoenix Suns forward Charles Barkley
- Former Suns player/current broadcaster Tom Chambers
- Former Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman and broadcaster Mark Grace
- Former Suns player Jason Richardson
- Former Suns player Stephon Marbury
- Former Suns player Cliff Robinson
- Former Arizona Cardinals tight end DC Jefferson
- Former Cardinals linebacker Clark Haggans
- Former Cardinals wide receiver David Boston
- Pro golfer Matthew Giles
- Former Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin
- Former Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens
- Oakland A's outfielder Coco Crisp
- We're not sure if this counts, but D. Baxter, the Diamondbacks mascot
Other athletes have been arrested on a variety of other charges in the Phoenix area, too -- Cardinals linebacker Daryl Washington and former Suns player Michael Beasley come to mind.
UPDATE April 18: Several people are curious about how no one knew about this arrest for months. Here's my slightly edited e-mail response explaining it to one reader:
I know it seems weird that everyone only found out yesterday, but it's actually pretty easy media doesn't know about someone's DUI arrest.
Most of the time, the police department would immediately announce the arrest to the media, like a trophy or something. Other police departments tip off individual reporters -- someone from the media department will call you and say, "You should e-mail me a records request for blah blah blah police report." Other police departments seem very tight-lipped. Also, the Salt River police department doesn't keep any arrest logs online, so nobody with too much time on their hands would be able to find it either.
Since it wasn't a serious case (involving felonies), McNabb wasn't booked into the county jail at the time of his arrest -- which didn't create a record with the county court system, nor a record of his mugshot that would have been posted online. However, once all was said and done and he had to serve a one-day jail sentence at the county jail yesterday, his mugshot was taken then at the county jail, and someone at the sheriff's office sent out the mugshot to the media. I asked one of the guys over there what McNabb did, and the exact quote was, "No idea." So then a dozen reporters started contacting every police department in the county trying to find out where this arrest took place, and what the details are.
I'm kind of surprised it doesn't happen like that more often. In fact, someone (not a police officer) just recently tipped me off that a local radio personality got fired after getting into a pretty nasty DUI crash. I didn't really believe him, because there was no record online, but he told me which police department made the arrest, I requested the record, and -- that reminds me -- they still have the records waiting for me down at the police station. This also took place months ago.
Got a tip? Send it to: Matthew Hendley.
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