Andrew Tahmooressi, the Marine reservist freed last October after spending seven months in a Mexican jail, has been arrested in Georgia and charged with drunk driving.
Tahmooressi, 26, who served two combat tours in Afghanistan, was arrested in March in rural Emanuel County, about 400 miles north of his Florida home, for passing in a no-passing zone. An open container of alcohol was found in his vehicle.
“As a result of the traffic stop, Tahmooressi was arrested and charged with the misdemeanor traffic offenses of Driving Under the Influence, Reckless Driving, Improper Passing and Open Container Violation,” according to a statement by the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Office.
The 26-year-old was held overnight and released after posting bail of $4,000.
Tahmooressi made national headlines one year earlier when he was arrested by Mexican authorities at the border with three guns and ammunition in his pickup truck. He insisted he crossed the border by mistake and had not intended to smuggle the weapons.
The case became a national cause celebre, especially in conservative circles, where President Obama was accused of doing nothing to save a hero. The confusing handling of the case in Mexico also became a national embarrassment there. On October 31, a Mexican judge ordered Tahmooressi’s release so that he could return to the US and get treatment for PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, a result of his military service.
After the Georgia arrest, his spokesman, Jonathan Franks, posted a message to Twitter confirming the arrest and saying, “The family again reminds all that he is suffering from a significant mental illness and respectfully requests privacy. We all remain committed to getting him the help he needs.”
Hours later, Franks post another message: “I’d like to ask my colleagues in the media to remember Andrew #Tahmooressi is suffering from a severe mental illness as the proximate result of serving his country with distinction — he is not something shiny for you to hold up to ridicule tabloid style.
This neither justifies viral coverage nor chasing him with cameras. The family and those of us around him are committed to getting him the care he needs and, to be frank, over dramatization of this by the press is not helping here. This young man does not deserve to be held up to ridicule as the result of his mental illness.”
Tahmooressi’s father is Iranian and his mother is American. They live with Andrew near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Andrew was reared.
