Bruce Springsteen, who appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Jeep, was charged with drunk driving at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in November, according to the Park Service.
Springsteen told a park police officer he had had "two shots of Tequila" in the last 20 minutes before being approached by the cop, but he refused to take a breath test. That's what led to his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, according to a document filed yesterday in federal court. This all took place at Gateway National Recreation area - federal property, federal offense - where the reporting officer says he saw the aging rock star take a swig of tequila and hop on his motorcycle. In his report, the officer says Bruce “smelt strongly of alcohol” and “had glassy eyes" and had a "completely empty" Patron tequila.
In the report, Springsteen is described as “visibly swaying back and forth” during a field sobriety test, declining to provide a sample on an initial breath test.
In that field sobriety test, he was instructed to take 18 steps on the "walk and turn." He took 45 steps.
They count these things, Bruce.
Springsteen has had no comment on this whole matter; he is scheduled to have a remote hearing to answer citations for driving while under the influence, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area.
Often hailed as the King of New Jersey, Springsteen was in a Jeep commercial on the Super Bowl telecast, enigmatically wearing a cowboy hat and driving an open Jeep in Kansas while urging people to find common ground. Jeep is "pausing" the commercial “until the actual facts can be established.”
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate,” a Jeep spokesperson told the website Pitchfork. “But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”
I was once a big fan of Springsteen, until his "I'm just a hard-rockin' sensitive poet of the people, kind of a Woody Guthrie, but with a band" act started to wear a bit thin. I checked, and losing me has not had any impact on his life. In his autobiography "Born to Run," Springsteen said he did not use drugs and never touched alcohol until he was 22 because of his father's drinking. Well, this September, he will turn 72, and by that stage in a man's life, he should know better than to swill hooch in a federal park while operating a motor vehicle.
He'll have his trial, maybe even write a song about how sorry he is, but "man, the ghosts are gonna have their way so I took to the street to let my soul run away..." Below, see a picture of his tiny house in Colts Neck, NJ.
The man has a horse stable the size of a salt dome. Maybe he could find some space there if he needs it.
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