The Grand Forks Herald and TMZ are reporting that Kurt Angle was arrested late last night/this morning near Thompson, North Dakota after he was allegedly found drunk behind the wheel of his parked car. He was in town for tonight's TNA house show in nearby Grand Forks.
According to North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Kevin Robson:
- A passerby reported that there was a vehicle in the median a few miles south of the exit for Thompson.
- A state trooper found angle in the driver's seat of his parked car smelling of alcohol.
- Angle claimed to have hit an icy patch on the dry road, then changed his story to having received a text message that distracted him and caused him to go into the median.
- Angle then failed a field sobriety test, so he was arrested and taken to the Grand Forks County Jail, where he took a Breathalyzer test, the results of which were not mentioned. Robson noted that "He was very cooperative. He was a gentleman the entire time, a very nice guy."
- Angle immediately posted his $300 bail in cash. He is being charged with "actual physical control" of a motor vehicle while intoxicated, meaning that he is not charged with driving while intoxicated, but was intoxicated while in control of the car by virtue of being in the driver's seat.
A message left by the Grand Forks Herald for TNA was not returned as of earlier this evening.
This is Angle's third arrest since being hired by TNA in 2006. In 2007, he was arrested in his hometown of Moon Township, Pennsylvania for driving under the influence and careless driving. In that case, there were multiple reports of a driver (identified as Angle) leaving a bar and then driving erratically. The police followed him home, where he was arrested after refusing to take a sobriety test and was infamously mentioned by the police as talking with pills in his mouth. He was eventually acquitted on the charges after arguing that the witnesses' stories varied too much.
In 2009, he was arrested on harassment and drug possession charges (police report available here) after a domestic dispute with a woman later revealed to be Trenesha "Rhaka Khan" Biggers and having human growth hormone (which he had a prescription for as he apparently is unable to function without it as it apparently really does help with his spinal problems) found in his car. The charges were eventually dropped and Biggers was subsequently fired by TNA.
Angle was released by WWE in 2006 after reportedly being given the "rehab or you're fired ultimatum" and quickly turned up in TNA. While he appears to have had some ups and downs during his TNA run, he does at least appear to be doing better than he was late in his WWE run, when he reportedly had to be escorted around by handlers hired by WWE and he dropped Rob Van Dam on his head at a house show. As the story went, he immediately blamed the miscue on Van Dam when all of the other wrestlers felt Angle was at fault. In TNA, he has generally appeared to be coherent and lucid during his matches, unlike certain other people recently...