Sam Shepard DUI Arrest

NORMAL, ILL. — Police in Illinois say actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving.

Police Lt. Mark Kotte says officers stopped Shepard early Saturday in the central Illinois town of Normal.

Kotte says the 65-year-old Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit.

Kotte says a breath test indicated Shepard's blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit.

Shepard told police he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel. He said he was on his way to his home in Kentucky from Minnesota.

Shepard won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play "Buried Child."

He posted bail in Bloomington. A man who answered the jail phone said he did not know the amount of bail. Attempts to locate an attorney for Shepard were unsuccessful.

Comments

[auramac]

Slow news day?

[TJCole]

Who stops, drunk cops..?

Who..?

[SinisterK9]

Other cops.

[RockySoldier]

grow up.

[princessk]

Sam...the next time you make an overnight stop on a long road trip, you need to bring along a flask and hold the party in your hotel room after you're done driving. It's good nobody got hurt.

[CharlottesvilleVA]

Sam's a professional drinker. When he lived in Charlottesville, he used to hang out at Sloan's, standing at the bar for hours at a time. The man can flat-out drink. Too bad he apparently doesn't know better than to get in a car afterwords.

He's a good guy. I'm glad nobody was hurt.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

A little too much of the right stuff?

[Telemachus]

OK, cheap shot, but good. I was going to say, "Mach 2 in a Mach 0.9 zone."

He's a truly great person; this is unfortunate but it shouldn't define him. Glad no one was hurt.

[aweissnet]

16 mph over the speed limit, and double legal limit (which isn't much--a few beers at the age of 65 will do that).

Leave the guy alone. He is obviously human.

[Tatiana]

You took my words.

Can't express what you just said.

[Southrnbelle]

Ditto. Would like to see him get his teeth fixed, though!! :):):):)

[aweissnet]

Right thanks! I wasn't endorsing drinking and driving, but to make news out of this is jibberish.

[mrskorn]

I am sure if you had family or friends killed by a drunk driver you might feel differently.
Stay home if you want to drink.

[Tatiana]

Sorry. U R RIGHT!

[blaharumph]

thank you. i could not think of a more polite response.

[VoteforPedro]

Here come the Busybodies!

Hey why don't you go fight to outlaw electricity as it kills far more Americans each year than people who have had a beer or two?

[Stalling]

Stupidity kills more than anything else.

[aweissnet]

I don't drink and drive. I barely drink. Get a grip. The guy didn't kill anyone.

[schatsie]

Kicking himself in the but, I am sure....2 am and drinking is NOT GOOD...I have been driving around at 2 am recently, but was so frigging tired that the only thing I was drinking was coffee..ALCOHOL is a depressant also....

[Wisterley]

He wrote some wonderful plays. He is part of our cultural heritage. So lay off with the snark.

BTW: He is a playwright. Actor only to make a living.

[blaharumph]

being an artist is no excuse to be a d*ck.

[HoldenLitgo]

What on earth does that mean, he's not an actor because he makes his living at it? A person can't "be" more than one thing? Making a living at another thing besides the other things you "make a living" at excludes you from being those other things? Never seen anything more asinine in my life. He "makes a living" as a playwright, too. A very good one, probably, considering this body of work and the royalties he makes from their productions and sales. Unbelievable. BTW: In this context, regardless of his standing in our "cultural heritage" or what he does to make a living, he's only another drunk driver. Beginning and end of story. Death and irresponsibility: the great equalizers.

[Wisterley]

He's not trained as an actor and doesn't act in a theatre only in movies. Anyone can act in movies: dogs, cats, whatever.

Clearly you have no idea how royalties work or how much income is produced by a play. From the tone of your post you've probably never seen his work. Fine. But remember, no one was killed. No one was maimed. He has to deal with the consequences.

[chevyval]

Bummer.

[harriettubman]

I didn't realize he was already 65!!!

[MNmommy]

Shame.

When will the rich ever learn that they can afford *people* in a situation like this.

[VOTER]

Exactly.

[jillsond]

When they haven't been drinking? Ever make a bad decision while drinking? It's not unheard of.

[MaryscottOConnor]

Sigh.

[auramac]

My sentiments exactly. War in the mideast and This is news?