Tony Romo questioned police and then refused a breath test during his July 23 operating while intoxicated arrest in Wisconsin, newly released bodycam footage shows. The former football star was stopped after a golf round and later cited for first-offense operating while intoxicated and refusing to submit to a chemical test.
The footage is drawing renewed attention because it shows Romo in the moment he pushed back on the stop. He told the officer he had come from a golf course, said he had consumed zero drinks and asked to call his attorney. At one point he said, “Because I'm coming from a golf course, you think I'm drunk?”
That question sits at the center of the case. The arresting officer said she observed red, glassy eyes and smelled alcohol coming from Romo, and police detained him and took him to a nearby station for field sobriety tests before he refused the breath test. Romo then said, “I've heard from all the lawyers don't ever do that.”
The stop came after his round at the Wisconsin Amateur Golf Championship on an interstate in Wisconsin, and the arrest quickly carried a public cost. Romo was set to appear at the M&P Group Texas State Open but withdrew over the weekend after the arrest.
For Romo, the issue now is not what happened on the road but what follows in court. He was released and is due in court on Sept. 21, with the bodycam footage ensuring that the July 23 stop will continue to be judged as much by what it showed as by the citation itself.
Romo, who retired from football in 2017 and joined CBS as a color commentator, spent 2006 to 2015 as the Dallas Cowboys' starter before an injury cost him his spot in 2016 to Dak Prescott. The Cowboys released him after that season, and his postplaying profile has kept him in the public eye long after his career ended.
