Hamilton County prosecutors said Irsay was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in the body, which carry maximum penalties of 60 days in jail and $500 fines for each count. A probable cause affidavit said Irsay was driving under the influence of oxycodone and/or hydrocodone, both powerful painkillers.
Irsay was arrested near his home at about 3 a.m. on March 16 with $29,000 in cash and bottles of prescription drugs in his vehicle. Police said Irsay denied being drunk and told an officer he had taken several prescription medications during the day. A police report said the 54-year-old billionaire was so disoriented that officers made him sit on the hood of a patrol car to keep him from falling, and that he had trouble reciting the alphabet.
Police had filed four preliminary felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, charges that each carried possible sentences of six months to three years in prison. Prosecutors took weeks before deciding to file the misdemeanor charges instead.
Why does this remind me of a few years back, the Anoka mayor, driving a squad car as a part-time sheriff's deputy on patrol duty, driving Rod Grams' son Morgan Grams home uncharged, after an arrest where the co-defendant in the auto was put in the slammer for a pot bust.
It got the Sheriff's office the name, "Morgan Grams Taxi Service," and got mayor Bjorn elected next chance voters had to throw the other bum out.
Influence talks. And Dean Barkley gets his SUV snarled in a forfeiture when letting a friend borrow it. Dean's fifteen minutes of fame clearly are behind him. Jesse's in Mexico, Dean's in distress.
The puzzle in all of this, and ex-Viking Koren Robinson's police/driving encounters; as rich as these guys are why have they not hired chauffeurs? It could be something that grows legs, an NFL status symbol as such; I party, my driver drives, I coast and continue doing touchdowns.