Judge Rules Whether Randy Travis’ Naked Arrest Video Can Be Released

A federal judge has ruled that a video showing Randy Travis naked during his arrest by Texas police in 2012 can be released.

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks ruled the singer “has failed to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits for his claims,” the American Statesman reports.

Travis was arrested after police responded to a one-car accident and found the country star drunk and incoherent, with the Statesman reporting that Travis was naked, although he was not aware that he was and attempted to bless the responding officers before praying for their deaths.

The singer later struck a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in exchange for dropping the retaliation and obstruction charges. After the arrest, Travis and those close to him worked to block the release of the footage from the arrest, which shows the star naked.

Travis’ lawsuit, filed in September, argued that releasing the footage would violate disability and medical privacy laws.

The video will reportedly be released on Friday and redacted from the waist down.

Travis’ wife, Mary Travis, attempted to block the release with a petition on Change.org along with Travis’ manager, Tony Conway, and publicist Zach Farnum. Travis’ team has been fighting against the release of the tape for years, and Mary was denied a request by the federal court to sue on her husband’s behalf. In 2013, the singer suffered a stroke that left him with limited ability to speak and he was unable to defend himself verbally.

“The Texas Attorney General’s Office is refusing to follow a state court order from Randy Travis‘ 2012 DUI case with threats to release the police dash cam video five years after the incident occurred, even though the case is still under appeal in the federal court system,” the petition reads. “The video, which contains confidential and sensitive footage, was taken after Mr. Travis had suffered a serious concussion as well as various other physical injuries due to the car crash.”

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