Authorities on Wednesday dropped charges of drunk and reckless driving from Bruce Springsteen following a November incident, acknowledging that the rocker’s alcohol level was so low that he did not deserve the allegations.
Springsteen pleaded guilty to a third number of alcohol consumption in a restricted area, the Gateway National Recreation Area. Popularly known as Sandy Hook, it is a park on a peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean overlooking New York’s skyscrapers.
In front of a judge and more than 100 viewers at a video conference, Springsteen sat down with lawyer Mitchell Ansell and admitted that he knew it was illegal to drink alcohol in the park.
“We had two small ‘fires’ of tequila,” Springsteen said when answering questions from an assistant prosecutor. The case went to federal court because the party is considered federal property.
Judge Anthony Mautone fined Springsteen $ 500 for the crime, plus $ 40 in court fees.
“I think I can pay for it right away, Your Honor,” Springsteen told Mautone.
In a written statement, Ansell said Springsteen was “pleased with the outcome” of the hearing.
We recommend:
According to a document about the probable cause, written by the police at the time of the incident, Springsteen told a police officer that he made two “shots” or small drinks known in Mexico (where tequila comes from) as caballitos, in 20 minutes. But he did not want to take a preliminary breathalyzer test before being arrested. Mautone said on Wednesday that preliminary testing is not a requirement and is not admissible in court.
When he was given a breath test at the park’s guard station, Springsteen’s blood alcohol was 0.02, a quarter of the legal limit in New Jersey, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Police wrote that they saw Springsteen taking a shot of tequila and then getting on the motorcycle. The officer wrote that the rocker “smelled strongly of alcohol” on November 14 “and had watery eyes” and that there was a bottle of Patron Tequila that was “completely empty”.
The report described Springsteen as “visibly swinging back and forth” during a sobriety test in the field and said he refused to take an initial breathalyzer test.
Following the news of the arrest, Jeep took an advertising break that ran at the Super Bowl with Springsteen in Kansas, urging people to find harmony. Jeep said it would put the ad on hold “until the real facts are established.”
Springsteen held Jan. 20 as part of President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, performing “Land of Hope and Dreams” in front of the Lincoln Memorial.