NFL Free Agent Tyler Thigpen Charged With DUI After Falling Asleep in Drive-Thru
Former NFL quarterback Tyler Thigpen allegedly fell asleep at a Wendy’s drive-thru and was charged with DUI.
The incident happened early Sunday morning in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when local cops who were responding to an unrelated call noticed a black Cadillac SUV parked at the drive-thru window for 20 minutes without moving.
Officers approached the vehicle and reported spotted Thigpen, 30, asleep at the wheel with his foot on the brake. “Horry County police said it took several minutes to awaken him. When they did, Thigpen told police he was confused, didn’t know where he was or how he had gotten there,” the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. He also denied drinking any liquor.
Thigpen, however, smelled strongly of alcohol, according to one of the cops on the scene, but refused to take three field sobriety tests, prompting his arrest. He also declined to take a breathalyzer at the Myrtle Beach jail.
The ex-signal caller was charged with DUI and released that afternoon on a $1,000 bond.
Thigpen was a star All-American quarterback for the Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers, the inaugural QB in the school’s history. He holds the single-season and career passing records in every major statistical category at Coastal Carolina, which is located in the Myrtle Beach area.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Thigpen in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL Draft, the first player from his college and from the Big South Conference to be drafted. The team released him in September 2007 and he was picked up by the Kansas Chiefs. He made his NFL debut on December 12, 2007, but later in the week he suffered a season-ending injury during practice. Thigpen was the Chief’s starting signal caller for much of 2008. He lost 10 of the 11 games he started at quarterback, six of which were decided by margins of seven points or less (the Chiefs went 2-14 that season). He was traded to the Miami Dolphins early in the 2009 campaign and spent two seasons as a backup QB there. He signed a three-year contract with the Buffalo Bills in 2011, and again was a backup quarterback there with limited playing time. In May 2014, he signed a one-year deal with the Cleveland Browns, but was waived after the team subsequently inked Rex Grossman in August.
He is now a free agent.
“My client, Tyler Thigpen, is extremely cognizant of the gravity of the allegations against him. My client and I look forward to this case taking the standard procedural avenues through our justice system with the same benefits and due process afforded to every other American citizen,” Thigpen’s lawyer explained in a statement.
[Image credit: SD Dirk]
