Via Hines Ward's Facebook page, the former Georgia Bulldogs WR's agent Andrew Ree has issued a statement expressing sadness for the player's Saturday morning DUI arrest while denying Ward was driving drunk. Sounds like Ward's team is planning to contest the charge:
On July 9th Hines Ward was stopped by Dekalb Co. police for suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence. He cooperated fully with the police and truthfully answered all of their questions. We are currently in the process of ascertaining all the facts. From our preliminary investigation we can tell you that we are confident that the facts will show that Hines was NOT impaired by alcohol while driving. However, Hines is deeply saddened by this incident and apologizes to his fans and the Steelers organization for this distraction.
According to reports, Ward was polite to his arresting officers, was allowed to drive himself to the police station*, had a passenger who hadn't been drinking and claimed he'd only had two drinks. He failed a field sobriety test before refusing a breathalyzer test, which equals an automatic booking.
Can't imagine how the reigning Dancing With The Stars champion could fail a field sobriety test if he wasn't actually intoxicated, but that's the claim.
Dawg Sports is kind of losing its mind at this point.
* It's been pointed out that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's story doesn't appear to report Ward drove himself. Reading the sentence in question again, it does seem to say the passenger drove Ward's car. I probably should've read that part an extra time or two, though it has also been interpreted otherwise.
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