Hope Solo, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former goalkeeper for the United States football team, was arrested in North Carolina.
She was arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Winston-Salem. Her charged include impaired driving (DWI), resisting arrest and misdemeanor child abuse, Winston-Salem Police Department announced.
Her two children were in the vehicle at the time of the offense, the department added before she was processed and subsequently released.
A passer-by had noticed Ms. Solo passed out behind the steering wheel for more than an hour with the vehicle’s engine running and her 2-year-old twins in the back seat, the arrest report stated.
Based on the impending prosecution, no further information will be released regarding this arrest,” said a department spokesperson.
A statement posted to 40-year-old’s Twitter account and attributed to her counsel, Rich Nichols, addressed the incident.
“On the advice of counsel, Hope can’t speak about this situation, but she wants everyone to know that her kids are her life, that she was released immediately and is now at home with her family, that the story is more sympathetic than the initial charges suggest, and that she looks forward to her opportunity to defend these charges,” the statement read.
Solo, widely considered one of the greatest female goalkeepers to ever play the game, helped the U.S. win two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup during her career before her contract was terminated in 2016 for what U.S. Soccer called “conduct that is counter to the organization’s principles.”
The termination — and a six-month suspension from the women’s national team — came after she referred to the Swedish women’s team as a “bunch of cowards” after losing to them in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics quarterfinals.
Her current arrest adds to a long history of misdemeanors she has accrued over her career. In 2014, she was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault in what the police in Kirkland, Washington described as an alcohol-fueled confrontation with her half-sister and nephew.
In 2015, her husband, the former N.F.L. player Jerramy Stevens, was arrested on drunken-driving charges. After learning through news reports that Ms. Solo had been with Mr. Stevens and that she was arguing with the police when he was arrested, U.S. Soccer suspended Ms. Solo for 30 days.
The USWNT has not been hampered by the “retirement” of Hope Solo and have continued their high standard’s in international football.
