Boston Red Sox Prospective Pitcher Britton Arrested for Drunk Driving
Estero, FL- Boston Red Sox pitcher Drake Britton must be having too much fun while he’s at training camp since he was nabbed for drunk driving earlier this week.
The 23 year-old was arrested in Estero, FL, near the team’s training camp around 4:30 a.m. on Bell Hill Griffin Parkway. According to ESPN Boston, the police report stated that an officer clocked Britton, who was driving a Chevy Silverado, going 111 mph, in a 45 mph zone.
The police initiate a pursuit and observed Britton making some risky maneuvers. He raced between several moving vehicles, jumped a curb and continued traveling down an embankment. Britton then knocked down a barbed wire a fence. Boston ESPN said Britton continued traveling down a dirt road for roughly a quarter of a mile, even attempting to pull into a wooded area before he stopped.
After the officer approached Britton, the baseball player handed him his debit card. The arresting officer noted that his breath smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot. Britton refused to take a breathalyzer, but told the officer he had been drinking.
As usual, after hearing Britton’s arrest, the Red Sox released a statement saying they took the matter “very seriously.”
Team manager John Farrell said later, “We take every situation like that seriously. In this case with Drake, it’s still being addressed. We’re still gathering information and the facts of what transpired. Fortunately in this case, there was no one injured. But the bottom line is, it’s a very serious issue with us.”
Shortly after Britton’s arrest the Boston Globe reported that he was optioned to Double A in Portland and pulled from an upcoming preseason game with the New York Yankees.
Britton was charged with DUI, DUI with property damage and reckless driving. It’s likely that he will avoid jail time, but given the speed he was driving the court may restrict his driving privileges.
According to the Boston Globe, Britton is the second Red Sox player to be arrested for DUI in the past year. Last March, Bobby Jenks was arrested after leaving a Fort Myers strip club.
In the past year numerous athletes in the MLB, NFL and NBA have been arrested for drunk driving, though the problem seems worse for the NFL, since 2000 over a hundred players have been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The MLB may not have as a severe DUI problem as the NFL, some have questioned if pro athletic associations are too lenient on players who break the law. Often athletes are fined or banned from a game or two, but the professional consequences may not be strict enough to discourage athletes from drinking and driving.
Athletes, like any person, are prone to make mistakes, but they are in a different position than most. But they differ in that people look up to them, and they are setting bad examples, especially for their younger fans, so it’s not out of line to hold them up to a higher standard.
