Over the years, country music stars have had their share of run-ins with the law. Some of them have even seen the inside of a jail cell. From the trouble Sam Hunt found himself in 2019 to the Kenny Chesney “horse incident” of 2000 and Wynonna entertaining fellow cellmates in Nashville, we look at the Top five country music arrests over the years.
RELATED: Sam Hunt On His 2019 DUI Arrest: 'I Take Responsibility'
Sam Hunt - November 2019 - DUI
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Sam was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. The Nashville officer that stopped him wrote in the report, “There was an obvious odor consistent with alcoholic beverage coming from the defendant as well as red bloodshot and watery eyes.” Hunt admitted to the officer that he had been drinking. In 2021, he pled guilty and spent 48 hours in the “alternate sentencing facility” DUI Education Centers.
Rascal Flatts' Joe Don Rooney - September 2021 - DUI
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Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney hit a tree while driving under the influence. He later pled guilty, spent two days in Nashville lockup, and lost his driver’s license.
Wynonna Judd - November 2003 - DUI
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Wynonna was pulled over by Nashville police while speeding in her Land Rover. According to the arrest report, Judd smelled of liquor, had dilated pupils, and couldn’t remember how many drinks she’d had. When she consented to a Breathalyzer test, her blood alcohol level was .175, more than double the .08 minimum for a drunk driving charge. Wynonna is believed to be the only country star arrested that began singing to her fellow arrestees in the open booking area at the Nashville jail.
Randy Travis - August 2012 - DUI
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Country Music Hall Of Famer Randy Travis was arrested in Texas in 2012 for driving under the influence and crashing his 1998 Trans Am. When he was pulled over, he was naked. He told the trooper that arrested him in a dashcam video, “I pray to God that he will have a cancerous growth that infects his bones and every part of his body.” He was sentenced to probation. Travis sued to block the dashcam video from being released but lost.
Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney - June 2000
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Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney were arrested in Buffalo, New York, after Chesney rode away with a deputy’s horse and McGraw and his manager allegedly attacked Erie County Sheriff’s Deputies who tried to stop him. Known as “the horse incident,” a year later, all three men involved were found not guilty. McGraw and Chesney hugged each other as the verdict was read.
