Body camera video released in Tony Romo's Milwaukee arrest, given 3 citations including OWI, having an open bottle in car
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- New body camera video shows former NFL quarterback Tony Romo's OWI stop. He was pulled over and arrested last Thursday, July 23, on I-43 in Milwaukee.
According to the warrant for his arrest, Romo was seen on Southbound I-43 in the Marquette Interchange cutting drivers off, passing from the right, and entering into a marked gore during rush hour traffic.
He received three citations including operating while under the influence, possessing open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, and unsafe passing on right. In body camera footage, you can hear a Deputy with the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office say she found "a few shooters" in the backpack Romo asked them to bring back to the station. Romo responded, "are any of them drank? I don't think any of them were drank, right?" to which the deputy did not respond.
He was in town for the Wisconsin Amateur Championship Golf Tournament, telling officials when pulled over that he was on his way to see his grandparents.
When the Deputy asked how many drinks Romo had, he replied "zero." Yet, the Deputy according to the search warrant, noted "glassy" and "bloodshot eyes" as well as a smell of alcohol on him.
Romo apparently refused a breathalyzer, and a warrant was issued for a blood test. Those results aren't expected for another two to three months. Criminal defense attorney Justin Padway noted it's within Romo's rights to refuse a preliminary breath test as that "is not admissible in the court of law. that is a tool that law enforcement can use to determine if there's probable cause to ultimately arrest you."
Tony Romo arrest in Milwaukee
Several times in the body camera footage you hear Romo ask to call his lawyer, which deputies do not allow. Padway explained that's correct: "you actually don't have a constitutional right to call your lawyer, so that's under the Sixth Amendment, your right to counsel. And that will only attach during adversary proceedings. What it does do, though, when a law enforcement officer refuses to let you call a lawyer, is it enhances the argument that you are 1. seized and 2. potentially under arrest under the totality of the circumstances."
Since Romo was handcuffed and taken to the station, Padway said it'd be reasonable for Romo's defense to be that he was arrested, not just detained, which requires more evidence. "So, if I'm the defense in this case, I'm arguing that at the time he was put in handcuffs, placed in the car, not permitted to call his attorney. That this would be determined an arrest. Now, to arrest somebody, you need probable cause, which is a heightened standard than to just take somebody out of a vehicle and have them perform field sobriety tests. For just that, you need what's called reasonable suspicion. So, if the defense can argue that he was in effect under arrest, a reasonable person would not feel free to leave at that point in time. Then there's a heightened standard for what law enforcement did."
During the field sobriety tests, Romo showed 14 of 18 signs of intoxication. At times, he was joking with officials saying he would add some of the tests to his physical therapy routine, and when he made a mistake or asked a Deputy to repeat the instructions, he was "just trying to do it right, that's all."
Tony Romo arrest in Milwaukee
A Deputy asked Romo if he had any head injuries or concussions, to which Romo with a slight smirk responded "over the years, yes. But not recently." He stopped to stretch a number of times while arrested, citing his two back surgeries. Padway notes that could help Romo's case: "people have different issues. People could have head issues that's going to cause nystagmus. People could have bad backs that are going to make it difficult for them to perform a walk and turn test."
Tony Romo arrest in Milwaukee
Romo, who has not publicly addressed the arrest, grew up in Burlington, about 35 miles from Milwaukee.
Romo is a CBS Sports analyst, and so far the network has not commented on his arrest. We also reached out to Romo's agent and attorney; we have not heard back from them either.
A court date is scheduled for Sept. 21, though Romo does not have to appear himself.