Jackass star Bam Margera was arrested by California police for driving under the influence and, surprisingly, he reportedly approached the officers first!
TMZ reported that Bam, 38, who is best known for performing asinine wild man stunts on MTV’s Jackass series and movies, was arrested Sunday Jan. 7, 2018. Bam, who has long battled alcohol abuse issues in the past, had recently welcomed a son, Phoenix Wolf Margera on Dec. 23, 2017.
Reportedly, Bam was driving by California Highway Patrol officers who were in the process of stopping another driver when he slowed down briefly to speak with the officers. No stranger to the scent of alcohol, the officers detected a whiff emanating from the star. They told the Jackass star to stop and ordered a field sobriety test. He failed.
Bam was promptly arrested and booked for DUI. It was the first such arrest for Bam.
His bail was set at $15,000, an inordinately high amount, as the usual amount is approximately $5,000. He was released on bail approximately 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time. In the past, Bam had admitted to struggling with alcohol abuse. He went through a public struggle on VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn in 2016.
In a recent interview, he admitted, “I never had any pill problems and I’ve never tried heroin in my life but it’s been a real struggle for me to stray off the alcohol.”
Bam confessed that the 2011 death of his longtime pal and Jackass costar Ryan Dunn death in a fiery car crash had left him devastated. The toxicology report on Dunn revealed that he had a blood level count twice the state’s legal limit when he crashed his Porsche into a tree and burst into flames, killing both himself and another passenger.
“I never had anybody I care about die, and all of a sudden by best friend dies,” Bam said. “I went on a drinking bender… my mom worried about me 98% of the day because she never knows what kind of call she’s going to get.”
We can only hope that Bam’s first DUI arrest is a much-needed wake-up call.
[Feature Photo: Bam Margera/AP/Todd Williamson/Invision, file]
