UPDATE (11/22): Hunt has issued a statement and apology via Twitter addressing the events that led to his DUI arrest. Explaining that he had been out at a friend’s show, he says driving in his inebriated condition was a “poor and selfish decision and I apologize to everyone who was unknowingly put at risk… It won’t happen again.”
Wednesday night I decided to drive myself home after drinking at a friend’s show in downtown Nashville. It was a poor and selfish decision and I apologize to everyone who was unknowingly put at risk and let down by it. It won’t happen again.
— Sam Hunt (@SamHuntMusic) November 22, 2019
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Country singer Sam Hunt was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and having an open container in his car following an early-morning traffic stop in Nashville.
According to an arrest report obtained by Rolling Stone, police were alerted to a vehicle traveling south in the northbound lanes of Ellington Parkway in East Nashville. Upon stopping the car, officers observed Hunt, the lone passenger, having bloodshot eyes and smelling of alcohol. He had difficulty retrieving his driver’s license and admitted to the officers that he had been drinking “recently.” Police also noticed two empty beer cans in the car.
The singer consented to taking field sobriety tests, which were recorded on a police car’s dash camera. Following those tests, Hunt also consented to a breath test, with his blood-alcohol level observed at .173.
Hunt was released from jail this morning on a $2,500 bond. He is due to appear in court January 17th.
Reps for Hunt did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Following the massive success of 2014’s full-length Montevallo, Hunt has mostly shifted to a sporadic singles-only model. He enjoyed a record-breaking smash in 2017 with “Body Like a Back Road” and in October, he released the song “Kinfolks.”
