The actor Timothy Williams, who has appeared in commercials for the German discount travel company Trivago, was taken into custody on drunk driving charges by police in Texas on the afternoon of April 10. Before releasing the actor on a $100 bond, a judge ordered the actor to undergo a mental health evaluation. He is scheduled to appear in court again on April 17 according to media reports.
The sequence of events that led to Williams being arrested began when a passerby called the Houston Police Department at approximately 3:15 p.m. to report a possible intoxicated driver on Westheimer Road in the vicinity of Lazy Hollow Drive. When they arrived at the scene, HPD officers say they found Williams unconscious behind the wheel of his vehicle with his foot on the brake pedal in a lane with moving traffic.
Williams was taken into custody after he allegedly failed to pass a series of standardized field sobriety exercises. He is also said to have submitted to a blood draw. The 52-year-old Houston native appeared in television shows including “Law and Order,” “The Sopranos” and “The Cosby Show” before Trivago chose him to be the face of their marketing efforts in the United States.
Those in the public eye often pay a particularly high price for their transgressions, and experienced criminal defense attorneys may point this out to prosecutors when representing celebrities or public figures accused of drunk driving. This could be especially true when their clients did not crash and caused no injuries or property damage.
Source: CNN, Police say they found ‘Trivago’ pitchman passed out in a car in a moving lane of traffic, Dave Alsup, April 12, 2019Source: Fox News, Trivago pitchman found passed out behind wheel of car, charged with DWI, police say, Stephen Sorace, April 12, 2019
