Todd Helton was arrested late Tuesday night and charged with driving under the influence, leading to a mugshot with his eyes closed and a pair of very contrite official statements from the Rockies and the 39-year-old first baseman.
In his statement Helton claimed to have been “driving to a gas station near my house.” And sure enough, according to the police report obtained by TMZ he was driving to a gas station to buy lottery tickets.
Seriously. Here’s more from TMZ.com:
According to the report, cops tracked down Helton after receiving a tip that Todd’s black Ford F150 had struck a median and then parked at a nearby gas station.
When cops arrived to the scene, police say they saw Helton stumbling out of the gas station — stinking of booze — and clutching lottery tickets in his hand.
Cops say Helton denied striking a median … but “made spontaneous statements about drinking two igloo cups of red wine.”
Drinking and driving is anything but funny, but drinking igloo cups of red wine and going to a gas station at 2:30 a.m. to get lottery tickets is quite the combination for a professional athlete with more than $150 million in career earnings.
