Whoops.
Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Sam Shepard arrested on DWI
Santa Fe resident and Oscar nominated actor and playwright Sam Shepard was arrested in Santa Fe on Monday night on an aggravated DWI charge, Santa Fe police said.
Shepard, 71, was arrested outside La Choza restaurant at Alarid and Mercer Streets at about 7:45 p.m after security guards called police for a welfare check of a male driver of a blue Toyota Tacoma truck who was attempting to drive away, said police Lt. Andrea Dobyns.
“The male was identified as Sam Shepard,” said Dobyns, who added that Shepard identified himself to officers. “The officers could smell alcohol and he appeared to have bloodshot watery eyes.”
“The driver admitted to drinking and was intending to drive home,” said Dobyns.
Shepard was given field sobriety tests “and based on the results he was arrested for DWI,” said Dobyns. Shepard refused a breath test and therefore the charge became aggravated.
Shepard was booked into the county jail just after 10 p.m. and no bond is listed, the jail website states. He has not yet been released, the website said.
A representative for Shepard’s talent agent, Hildy Gottlieb of ICM Partners in Los Angeles had no comment when contacted early this afternoon. New York attorney Suzanne Phillips said she had done some work for Shepard in the past but “I don’t represent him in that capacity” when asked about his DWI arrest.
Shephard was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1979 for his play “Buried Child.” He’s one of the most heralded writers of his generation, and among his other well-know plays are “True West,” “Fool for Love” and “Curse of the Starving Class.” His Oscar nomination was for best supporting actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 movie “The Right Stuff.”
La Choza manager Al Romero said he was not present during the Monday night arrest but that an entry in the restaurant’s log stated there was “an issue with a gentleman that needed to be driven home.”
