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Tony Romo's BAC Nearly Twice Legal Limit in Wisconsin OWI Case
Court records show Tony Romo's blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent, nearly double Wisconsin's legal limit, after his July OWI arrest. Romo pleaded no contest, had his license revoked, and was ordered to complete an alcohol assessment and install an ignition interlock device. He attributed the incident to a dependence on pain medication and alcohol stemming from back surgeries.
By Tertius News AI Desk3 distinct · 3 mastheads · 3 articlesVersion 2Coverage Published
Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS broadcaster, was arrested on July 23 in Milwaukee for operating while intoxicated (OWI), with court records showing his blood-alcohol concentration was 0.15 percent — nearly twice Wisconsin's legal limit of 0.08 percent.
The arrest occurred after Romo was pulled over following a round of golf, with authorities alleging he unsafely passed a vehicle on the right. During the stop, police reported observing that Romo had red, glassy eyes and the odor of an intoxicating beverage emanating from him. An open bottle of alcohol was also found on the passenger side of his black Jeep, according to a court filing.
Romo was initially issued four citations: OWI, possessing open intoxicants in a moving vehicle, unsafe passing on the right, and refusing to take an intoxication test after arrest. He initially indicated an unwillingness to submit to breath testing but later changed his mind, according to reports.
On Tuesday, Romo pleaded no contest to the OWI charge. As part of the plea deal, his driving privileges were revoked for six months, he was ordered to complete an alcohol assessment program, and he must have an ignition interlock device installed on all of his vehicles for at least one year. Fines were set at $834, with some reports citing more than $700. The other three citations were dismissed.
In an Instagram statement following the court proceedings, Romo said the incident stemmed from a substance-abuse issue developed after multiple back surgeries during his NFL career. He wrote, "Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain. That pain led to a dependance on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those meds eventually turned into an over-reliance on alcohol." Romo said he takes full responsibility for his actions and is working with a team of doctors to address his health. He expressed gratitude for the support of his family, friends, and the NFL community.
Since the arrest, Romo has been on leave from CBS, where he serves as the lead NFL color commentator.
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Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimTony Romo's blood-alcohol concentration was 0.15 percent during his OWI arrest.
ClaimTony Romo was issued four citations: OWI, open intoxicants in a moving vehicle, unsafe passing on the right, and refusing to take a test for intoxication after arrest.
ClaimTony Romo said that multiple back surgeries ended his career earlier than expected and left him with constant, debilitating pain.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via New York Post , TMZ
ClaimTony Romo said that the pain from his back surgeries led to a dependence on pain medication, and his efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via New York Post , TMZ
ClaimTony Romo said he takes full responsibility for his actions.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via New York Post , TMZ
ClaimTony Romo said he is working closely with a team of doctors to address his health and make the necessary changes.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via New York Post , TMZ
ClaimTony Romo said he is deeply grateful for the support of his family, friends, and the NFL community.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via New York Post , TMZ
ClaimTony Romo has been on leave from CBS since the arrest.