Sam Hunt Avoids Charges After Arrest For Speeding, DUI Device Violation

Sam Hunt will reportedly avoid charges related to a Jan. 20 stop and arrest outside Nashville for speeding and violating an anti-DUI interlock device. According to People, the former college quarterback-turned-country star was arrested and jailed last week in Henderson Country, TN, with TMZ reporting that he was jailed and released the same day on $1,500 bond.

At press time spokespeople for the Henderson Police Department and Hunt had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the arrest; People reported that a Hunt rep said the singer’s lawyer cleared the paperwork in the incident in court this week and he will not face any charges.

Hunt was required to use the car breathalyzer device — which prevents people who’ve been arrested for DUI from driving after drinking — after he was arrested in Nashville for driving under the influence in November 2019. At the time, he apologized for the incident, tweeting, “Wednesday night I decided to drive myself home after drinking at a friend’s show in downtown Nashville. It was a poor and selfish decision and I apologize to everyone who was unknowingly put at risk and let down by it. It won’t happen again.”

In that earlier incident, “Body Like a Back Road” singer Hunt was reportedly driving the wrong way on Nashville’s Ellington Parkway with two open containers in his car when he was pulled over with a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.173%; the legal BAC in Tennessee is 0.08% for adults.

In August 2021, Hunt pleaded guilty to two counts misdemeanor DUI and was ordered to spend 48 hours in an “alternate sentencing facility” as well as 11 months and 29 days in jail, though all that time was suspended except for 48 hours. He was also required to complete an alcohol safety course, lost his license for a year and required to install the interlock device on his car until he regained his license.

Hunt and his wife Hannah announced in November that they’re expecting their third child together.