Infowars host and far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated in Texas, according to court records released on Tuesday.
Police pulled Jones over shortly before midnight on Monday after his wife called authorities to their Austin home during an argument. Officers detected a “strong odour of alcohol” coming from Jones’ Dodge Charger during the roadside stop, according to court records.
His blood-alcohol level registered at .076 and .079, according to court records. That’s just shy of the legal blood-alcohol limit in Texas, which is 0.08 per cent.
Police allege Jones lost his balance and couldn’t touch his heel to his toe during their sobriety tests.
Jones was booked into jail shortly before 12 a.m. and released a few hours later on a $3,000 bond, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
Police were initially called to Jones’ home around 10 p.m. for a report of a family disturbance, according to an arrest affidavit filed by the sheriff’s deputy.
“Dispatch advised the disturbance now was only verbal but earlier in the day ‘it was physical,'” the affidavit said, according to the New York Times.
The Texas radio host is currently facing a lawsuit for peddling claims that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax. He’s also been booted off of several social media platforms for spreading a wide range of conservative conspiracy theories, many of which he continues to spread through his website.
“Alex Jones was cleared of a ‘driving while intoxicated’ charge by blowing less than a 0.08,” a statement on Infowars falsely claims. The site claims he was pulled over for driving at five miles per hour over the speed limit and that he admitted to “drinking a small amount of sake at a Japanese restaurant before with his wife.”
Jones was not cleared of driving while intoxicated. He is scheduled to appear in court to face the charge on March 31, according to the Travis County court docket.
He returned to the airwaves for his Austin-based Infowars radio show on Tuesday.
— With files from the Associated Press
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