News broke over the weekend that Wayne Rooney was arrested for public intoxication and swearing in Washington D.C. in December, and representatives of the D.C. United star have released a statement explaining the incident.
Rooney, 33, was arrested and detained at Washington Dulles airport and charged after agreeing to pay a $25 fine and $91 for charges, as he paid those fees on Jan. 4, 2019.
Explaining what happened in the incident, Rooney’s representatives put his behavior down to a ‘prescribed amount of sleeping tablets’ mixed with ‘some alcohol consumption’ on a long-haul flight from Saudi Arabia for a promotional business trip.
Below is the statement from Rooney’s representatives in full:
“Wayne Rooney was arrested and detained at Dulles airport following a long flight from Saudi Arabia after a one-day promotional business trip. During the flight Wayne took a prescribed amount of sleeping tablets mixed with some alcohol consumption and consequently was disorientated on arrival. He was approached by police who arrested him on a minor misdemeanour charge. He received a statutory automatic fine and was released shortly afterwards at the airport. The matter is now at an end. Wayne would like to put on record his appreciation for the manner he was treated by all involved. No further comment will be made.”
D.C. United have also released a statement on Rooney’s arrest: “We are aware of news reports indicating that Wayne Rooney was arrested in December. We understand the media’s interest in this matter but we believe this is a private matter for Wayne that DC United will handle internally. We have no further comment on this situation.”
Rooney admitted a drink-driving charge in September 2017 when he was driving a woman’s car almost three times the legal limit in England. He was subsequently banned from driving for two years and told to carry out community service.
Since he arrived in D.C. in July 2018 he has been a revelation with the MLS franchise battling up from bottom spot in the Eastern Conference to the playoffs. Rooney’s goals, assists and general play were a huge part of Ben Olsen’s men being the form team in MLS in the second half of the season.
However, this kind of situation could well damage his reputation despite the explanation given by his representatives.
