Tony La Russa, manager of the Chicago White Sox, was arrested in February on a charge of driving under the influence in Phoenix, Arizona. Nearly ten months later, he has resolved the case. La Russa pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
According to AP News, the 76-year-old La Russa pleaded guilty Monday in Maricopa County Justice Court. He was sentenced to one day of home detention and is required to complete 20 hours of community service. He also received a fine of nearly $1,400. By pleading guilty to the lesser charge, La Russa avoided up to 10 days in jail.
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According to his lawyer, Lawrence Kazan, La Russa underwent alcohol counseling after his arrest. “That shows Mr. La Russa is taking this matter very seriously, and it is also indicative of the remorse he feels for having gotten himself involved in this matter,” he said about his client.
The arrest occurred in February after La Russa blew out the tire on the grey Lexus he was driving. He smashed into a curb and left the vehicle smoking. When the authorities arrived at the scene, he was standing next to the SUV. La Russa told the police officers that he had been at dinner with his friends from the Los Angeles Angels. He then told the officer he hit something and a tire blew out.
The officer detected a “slight odor of alcoholic beverage” and had La Russa take a field sobriety test. The manager was taken into custody and refused to submit a sample of his blood or urine to test his blood-alcohol level. ESPN reported at the time that the officer got a search warrant to take two tubes of La Russa blood. The records indicated that he registered a blood-alcohol content of .095 — above the legal limit of .08.
While the incident occurred in February, the charges were not filed until Oct. 28. The news surfaced one day prior to La Russa becoming the manager of the Chicago White Sox. The team released a statement to ESPN, saying: “Because this is an active case, we cannot comment further at this time.”
La Russa is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame following his induction in 2014. He is one of the top managers in the sport and has three World Series titles to his name — one with the Oakland Athletics and two with the St. Louis Cardinals. He previously served as the manager of the White Sox (1979-1986), Oakland Athletics (1986-1995) and the Cardinals (1996-2011).
