Police: Donovan McNabb was legally drunk at time of DUI arrest
Jul 14, 2015, 10:59 AM | Updated: 11:00 am
PHOENIX — Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was legally drunk at the time of his DUI arrest, police said.
Jesse Sanger with Gilbert Police said McNabb’s blood-alcohol content was .171 when he was arrested on suspicion of DUI on June 28. Arizona’s legal limit is .08.
McNabb, 38, told officers he had just left a sports bar and was driving to his Phoenix-area home when he rear-ended the wife of a tribal police officer at the intersection of Chandler Heights and Riggs roads.
An officer who responded to the accident said he asked McNabb how much alcohol he had to drink.
“Nothing,” McNabb said, according to the police report, adding that he had a cold and was taking a cough syrup and eating two cough drops.
The officer made McNabb spit out the cough drops and gave him a battery of tests, noting six signs of impairment. McNabb “was not able to stand without visibly swaying back and forth and side to side in a rotational pattern,” the report said.
McNabb pleaded guilty to another DUI charge in March 2014. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, but only served one. KTAR legal analyst Monica Lindstrom said the sentence was the state mandatory minimum for a first-time misdemeanor DUI.
McNabb, a Valley resident, played 13 seasons in the NFL. He spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles, a team he led to a Super Bowl appearance and several NFC East titles and the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings before retiring in 2012. He made six Pro Bowl appearances.
Since leaving the NFL, McNabb has been hired as an analyst for two major networks. In 2013, he appeared on “Fox Sports Live,” Fox Sports 1’s flagship program.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
