ShareThisST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. - Detroit Tigers five time All-Star first baseman Miguel Cabrera was arrested Wednesday in St. Lucie County on DUI and other charges after sheriff's investigators spotted his vehicle on the side of the road with smoke coming from the engine compartment, according to records released Thursday and an official.
When a deputy made contact with Miguel Cabrera, 27, before 11 Wednesday night in the 30000 block of Okeechobee Road, the deputy asked Miguel Cabrera who was with him.
"I am going to (expletive) kill him," Miguel Cabrera is quoted as saying.
The deputy saw no one else in the black 2005 Land Rover or in the area. Cabrera, who lives in Boca Raton, grabbed a bottle of James Buchanan Scotch and started drinking.
Cabrera, a native of Venezuela who debuted in the majors in 2003, played several years for the Florida Marlins before joining the Tigers, where sources have reported his salary is $20 million.
Cabrera, whose eyes were bloodshot and speech "heavily slurred," was handcuffed and walked towards a patrol vehicle before being told to get in the vehicle.
"Do you know who I am, you don't know anything about my problems," Cabrera is quoted as saying.
A deputy reported Cabrera was put in handcuffs after not following orders. Cabrera also "kept running out in the road with his hands up."
A deputy asked Cabrera to get his a patrol vehicle, and he said, "(Expletive) you."
Cabrera pushed off a vehicle into a deputy, who "delivered 3-4 knee spikes" into Cabrera's left thigh.
In addition to the DUI charge, Miguel Cabrera faces two misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer without violence. Sheriff's officials also issued Cabrera a citation for open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Cabrera, who a righthanded slugger who led the American League with 126 RBI while placing second with a .328 batting and third with 38 home runs, refused to take a breath test.
A DUI case report lists Miguel Cabrera's attitude as belligerent, cocky, combative and argumentative.
Cabrera and his wife and daughter live in his hometown of Maracay, Venezuela, during the off-season, according to a bio.
In 2009, Cabrera got into a fight with his wife after a night of drinking, right before his team surrendered the American League Central Division title to the Minnesota Twins.
Miguel Cabrera was released about 7:40 a.m. Thursday from the St. Lucie County jail on $1,350 bond, a jail official said.
(Will Greenlee writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. On the web at tcpalm.com)
