14 DAY TRIAL // Sam Donaldson, the 78-year-old ABC newsman and political correspondent, has joined the long list of celebrities to be arrested for driving under the influence. He was busted in Delaware, it has emerged.
Though the DUI arrest occurred at the beginning of the month, it’s just now that word of this has gotten out in the press.
TMZ confirms the arrest, while also offering a bit more details on it.
“According to law enforcement, 78-year-old Donaldson was pulled over just before 8pm on December 1 after he had driven onto the shoulder of the road,” the celebrity publication says.
He failed the sobriety test, so he was taken to the police station.
“During the stop, the officer detected the presence of alcohol and decided to perform a field sobriety test on Sam, which he bombed. Donaldson was eventually arrested for DUI and was taken to a nearby station where he was booked and released,” TMZ says.
“Cops say the newsman was ‘released to an adult pending his appearance in court.’ For the record – law enforcement notes that Donaldson was very cooperative during the incident,” the same media outlet reports.
Even though the story is now getting a lot of traction, Donaldson was not immediately available for comment. The date when he’s due in court has not been made public.
Sam Donaldson is a respected figure in television, with a resume worthy of all admiration and respect.
He joined ABC News in 1967 and has called it his home ever since. He also worked as ABC’s White House Correspondent between 1977 and 1989, and 1998 and 1999, and as co-anchor on This Week.
In 2006, Donaldson made headlines for getting into a verbal confrontation with President Bush, whom he asked whether he thought Mel Gibson should be “forgiven” for the anti-Semitic remarks he had made while he was being arrested for DUI.
Bush turned around to see who had asked the question and said, “Is that Sam Donaldson? Forget it... you’re a has-been! We don’t have to answer has-beens’ questions.”
Donaldson fought back with “Better to have been a has-been than a never-was.”