A top Austrian golfer spent a night in an Arizona jail after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol when he crashed his car into a house, according to a report from the Brisbane Times.
Matthew Giles, a 22-year-old Australian who plays on the PGA’s Nationwide Tour, was allegedly intoxicated when he crashed his car through a wall and reportedly severed a gas pipe, which forced police to evacuate people from several homes in the area.
Sources indicate that Giles faces a felony DUI charge because prosecutors felt that his high level of intoxication and wild behavior amounted to an “extreme” violation of DUI laws.
The accident happened in Gilbert, a town southeast of Arizona, where witnesses reported that they saw the car traveling at a high speed before they heard “screeching tires and a loud crash,” according to a police report.
Giles was reportedly trying to make a left turn at a very high rate of speed when he lost control of his car and slammed into a single family home.
A police spokesperson also told local journalists that the car “car went through a wall in the house, with the front end of the car entering the home itself” and later “hit a gas line, causing a natural gas leak,” which forced an evacuation of nearby homes until authorities could turn off the gas line.
According to sources, it will take about two weeks for scientists to determine the results of the driver’s blood test, but one police officer on the scene claimed that Giles’ performance on field sobriety tests showed that he had “some pretty high impairment levels.”
Miraculously, no one in the house was injured, and Giles and the passenger in his car were also uninjured. Had someone been injured in the crash, Giles would likely face an even more severe punishment.
Interestingly, after his arrest, Giles spent the night in Maricopa County’s 4th Avenue Jail, which is run by the infamous Sherriff Joe Arpaio, who has gained notoriety as “America’s toughest sheriff” thanks to his publicity-friendly practices, such as forcing inmates to wear pink clothing and handcuffs.
Giles was born in Sydney, Australia, but was a star member of the golf team at the University of Southern California from 2007 to 2009. Giles won numerous awards during his college career, including two different All-American honors.
Sources say Giles still plans to play in a tournament next week, but the golfer could be facing serious jail time or hefty financial penalties if he is found guilty of a felony DUI.
