Jim Irsay Arrested and Charged, not Convicted for DWI: 4 Felony Counts

Colts owner Jim Irsay arrested, charged with DWI, 4 felony counts 

Part of piece by Josh Katzowitz | +NFL Writer (CBS Sports)
March 17, 2014

Jim Irsay was arrested early Monday morning. (WishTV.com)

+Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was arrested Sunday night and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and four counts of possession of a controlled substance.

According to the Hamilton County jail website, the 54-year-old Irsay was booked at 3:07 a.m. Monday morning, and his bond was set at $22,500 after his arrest in Carmel, Ind. +WISH-TV was the first to report the news. Irsay would be subject to punishment from the +NFL under the league's personal conduct policy.

The Colts released the following statement: “We are gathering information at this time regarding last night's incident involving Jim Irsay. The team will issue additional statements when the facts are sorted and we are aware of the next steps to this process. Many fans have reached out to express their concern and we appreciate their support.”

Later on Monday, the Colts released the following: "The club continues to fully support Mr. Irsay but must refrain from commenting further at least until formal charges have been filed. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday, March 26."

The +The Indianapolis Star reports that Carmel police say they found several pill bottles with prescription drugs in Irsay's car. But police said the Schedule IV prescription drugs that were found in the car were not associated with any of the prescription bottles.

Possession is a Class D felony, and the operating a vehicle while intoxicated charge is a Class A misdemeanor.

Police say they stopped Irsay on Monday morning after he was caught driving at a slow rate of speed, stopping in the middle of the road and failing to signal a turn.

"During the course of the investigation, Irsay subsequently failed several roadside field sobriety tests," Lt. Joe Bickel of the Carmel police department said in a statement.

At about 1:30 p.m. ET Monday, Irsay was released from jail.

Irsay walks out of Hamilton County Jail at 1:30 on Monday #IrsayArrest @indystar pic.twitter.com/ERzquMcfib
— Danese Kenon (@danesekenon) March 17, 2014

Here is Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz's reaction to the news of the arrest.

There was a sad inevitability to Jim Irsay's arrest. He's been struggling for some time now. Hope he gets help.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) March 17, 2014

As many know, Irsay has shared that he had an addiction to pain pills, and sought help before for substance abuse. We share the same sentiments as Mr. Eastbrun.(@Mark_Eastbrun)

@bkravitz like you said, seems like a good person. Hope he gets it figured out, best of luck to him.
— Mark Eastburn (@Mark_eastburn) March 17, 2014

Irsay has said in the past that he doesn't drink, most recently last December. Albeit, the presumption of this last sentence, it would not behoove us at +SPORTS CR3W to act like this was not a relapse or something that he does regularly and escaped the scathing that he is about to endure. Depending on the view of "Addiction," this could have been a bender relapse or any of the previous mentioned scenarios

On Monday afternoon, Irsay took to Twitter himself to thank supporters.

Deepest thx to family, friends, fans, colleagues for the messages of support, thoughts and prayers. Impossible to tell u how much this means
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) March 17, 2014