Shaun White Jailed, Beat Up For Trashing Hotel
Shaun White was jailed after allegedly trashing a Nashville hotel over the weekend.
Given that White is 26 years old, an "X-gamer," Olympic gold medalist, and international celebrity, the hotel trashing incident could not have been that much of a surprise. It just seems to come with the territory of being a young celebrity.
Early Sunday morning, police officers were called to the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel at 2 a.m. when White allegedly pulled a fire alarm, forcing the hotel to evacuate all guests, reports ESPN. A hotel employee also reportedly saw White destroy a hotel phone.
White then tried to make a getaway, but a Good Samaritan hotel guest gave chase and stopped White, causing White to fall down and hit his head.
The skateboarder and snowboarder was treated at a local hospital before being released into police custody. A mug shot released by police shows White sporting a black eye. He now faces charges of public intoxication and vandalism, and is accused of drunkenly destroying the phone, reports ESPN.
White apparently could have avoided being sent to jail when police officers gave him the opportunity to sign misdemeanor citations. However, White refused, and a police source told ESPN that "[White] basically put himself in jail by not signing that."
Generally, for minor crimes and infractions like public intoxication and petty vandalism, the police will not haul you off to jail. But White may not have been thinking clearly given his allegedly inebriated state, and so forced the hand of police officers to lock him up. White was later released on his own recognizance and faces a court date in October.
It's interesting to note that this is not White's first time getting into trouble in a hotel. Back in 2007, he was cited by police for discharging a fire extinguisher inside a Colorado hotel. White may want to keep a criminal defense attorney on his payroll for his next overnight hotel stay.
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