Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was busted late Sunday for suspicion of drunken driving, authorities said. Irsay was arrested by Carme...
Irsay was arrested by Carmel Police on charges of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said.
The gridiron executive was driving his silver Toyota Highlander "at a slow rate of speed" along Hoseferry Rd. when he "came to a complete stop in the lane of travel" and then failed to signal a turn, prompting cops to pull him over, police spokesman Lt. Joe Bickel told the Daily News.
Cops unearthed several prescription pill bottles in Irsay's car and he failed several sobreity tests at the scene, Carmel Police said in a statement. According to cops, the drugs in Irsay's car weren't associated with the prescription bottles found inside. He's facing a preliminary misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated and four felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. If convicted, Irsay could face six months to three years in prison on each count. A hearing is scheduled for March 26.
The executive’s bond was set at $22,500, police said. He was released from jail Monday afternoon after spending the night in custody.
"He cannot be released until whatever in his system has gotten out of his system," spokesman Bryant Orem told The News early Monday morning.
HAMILTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay was booked overnight for driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance.
Myra Borshoff Cook, a spokeswoman for Irsay, declined to comment early Monday on his arrest.
"We are gathering information at this time regarding last night’s incident involving Jim Irsay,” Colts director of communications Avis Roper said in a statement. “The team will issue additional statements when the facts are sorted and we are aware of the next steps to this process. Many fans have reached out to express their concern and we appreciate their support.”
The NFL owner — who once claimed on Twitter that he had been clean and sober for 15 years — appeared haggard and discheleved in his mug shot.
Following wrist and elbow surgeries in the mid-to-late ‘90s, Irsay developed a dependency on painkillers, an addiction that led him to spend 30 days in a rehab facility in 2002.
“You realize you try to do it on your own and you can’t,” Irsay told The News in 2007, with his Colts on the verge of their first championship in Indianapolis.
“It’s a lifelong thing,” he said then of his battle with addiction, specifically Vicodin. “It’s something you deal with every day for the rest of your life. For me, it’s been tremendous, because when you overcome a potentially fatal disease, it gives you such gratitude.”
The 54-year-old Irsay could be subject to further discipline from the league following his arrest, an NFL spokesperson told The News on Monday.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has the power to suspend, fine or discipline players, coaches and owners as he sees fit under the league’s personal conduct policy. In this case, should he decide to take action against Irsay, Goodell would be doing so against one of his bosses; the NFL commissioner is employed by the league’s 32 owners.
Irsay lives in Carmel. He became the Colts' owner in 1997 after the death of his father, Robert Irsay.
Irsay’s wife of 33 years, Meg, filed for divorce in November. The couple has three daughters together.
idejohn@nydailynews.com
Twitter: @IrvingDeJohn
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