Hey Driver, Pull on Over

Country Music Star Zach Bryan Arrested 

Photo by Kishor on Unsplash

The rising country music singer who recently released the song, “Hey Driver,” was pulled over one Thursday evening. Just days after receiving his first No. 1 album, Zach Bryan was arrested on Sept. 7 and fans are speculating about the reasoning behind his arrest. Fortunately, Bryan has since been released along with  details about the situation. Referred to as “an incident with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol,” Bryan was arrested for interfering with a traffic stop.

The country star was arrested by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for “obstruction of investigation” which is defined as “willfully delaying or obstructing any public officer in the discharge of any duty of office.” Bryan pulled up next to his security guard, who had been pulled over for speeding. He got out of his truck and began to smoke a cigarette to pass the time and asked the officer what was taking so long. This prompted the officer to threaten arresting him for interfering with the traffic stop if he did not get back in his truck. In response to this Bryan said, “I’ll go to jail. Let’s do it.” Bryan continued to argue and was arrested by the officer. After cussing out the officer, he made several harsh remarks, prompting his arrest. After Bryan realized that the arrest was happening, he began excessively apologizing, recognizing that he had made a mistake by disrespecting the cops.

“I think that he should have been more controlled and not acted out in the situation, he should have relaxed and not rebelled against the cops,” junior Keller Bridges said. “I honestly think it’s pretty funny and I don’t think his fans will think too much of it because they like Zach Bryan for who he is.”

As detailed in Bryan’s apology video, he decided to spread the true story of his arrest to all his fans quickly, before rumors spread and the story became exaggerated. He spent the hours in jail, the Craig County Jail, and his mugshot has been circulating throughout fans. He was released from jail a few hours after being arrested.

“I don’t really care about his actions, he seemed like he just made a mistake and he apologized for it,” freshman Ryder Miller said. “I don’t think that his fans' opinions will change about him because they just like his music and don’t care about the things he’s doing or who he is.”

After Bryan made harsh comments to the police officers, including cursing them out, he quickly released a heartfelt apology to both his fans and the officers. As detailed in his social media posts, Zach Bryan admitted to acting like an “idiot” and apologized to his fans for his behavior. Fans have many different opinions on the details and public apology posted by Bryan.

“I don’t think his actions were good, but I think that's okay because I just like his music and don’t really care what he does outside of it,” sophomore Neely Oberste said. “I don’t think that this will affect his tour because he’s already out of jail and it doesn’t start till next year.”