Bruce Springsteen drunken driving charge dropped, fined $500

David Porter/AP

Updated: Feb 24, 2021 / 11:06 AM CST

TORONTO, ONTARIO – SEPTEMBER 12: Bruce Springsteen attends the “Western Stars” premiere during the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 12, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

HIGHLANDS, N.J. (AP) — The government dropped drunken driving and reckless driving charges against Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday stemming from an incident in November, admitting that the rocker’s blood-alcohol level was so low that it didn’t warrant the charges.

Springsteen pleaded guilty to a third charge, consuming alcohol in a closed area, meaning the Gateway National Recreation Area. Better known as Sandy Hook, it is an Atlantic Ocean peninsula with views of the New York City skyline.

Facing a judge and more than 100 onlookers in a video conference, Springsteen sat next to lawyer Mitchell Ansell and admitted he was aware it was illegal to consume alcohol at the park.

“I had two small shots of tequila,” Springsteen said in response to questions from an assistant U.S. attorney.

U.S. Magistrate Anthony Mautone fined Springsteen $500 for the offense, plus $40 in court fees.

“I think I can pay that immediately, your honor,” Springsteen told Mautone.

According to a probable cause document written by park police, Springsteen told a park officer he had done two shots in the previous 20 minutes but wouldn’t take a preliminary breath test before he was arrested.

FILE – In this Nov. 5, 2018, file photo, Bruce Springsteen performs at the 12th annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit concert at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Springsteen is facing a drunken driving charge for an incident in New Jersey in November. A spokesperson for the National Parks Service says Springsteen was arrested on Nov. 14 in the Gateway National Recreation Area. He received citations for driving while under the influence, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area.
(Photo by Brad Barket/Invision/AP, File)

The officer at Gateway National Recreation Area wrote in the statement of probable cause that he saw Springsteen take a shot of tequila and then get on his motorcycle.

When he took a breath test at the park’s ranger station, his blood-alcohol came back .02, a quarter of the legal limit in New Jersey.

The officer wrote that the rocker “smelt strongly of alcohol” Nov. 14 and “had glassy eyes” and that there was a bottle of Patron tequila that was “completely empty.”

The report described Springsteen as “visibly swaying back and forth” during a field sobriety test and said he declined to provide a sample on an initial breath test.

After news of the arrest, Jeep put on pause an ad that ran during the Super Bowl featuring Springsteen in Kansas urging people to find common ground. In a statement, Jeep said it would pause the commercial “until the actual facts can be established.”

Springsteen had performed Jan. 20 as part of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, singing “Land of Hope and Dreams” in front of the Lincoln Memorial.