Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy was reportedly cited for driving while under the influence after he passed out behind the wheel of his car over the weekend.
According to Kevin Kietzman of Sportsradio 810 WHB, police were called at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when Duffy fell asleep in his car while waiting in line at a Burger King drive-thru. The pitcher apparently caused quite the scene, even asking someone to get in his car and drive it away for him.
According to Burger King employee, Duffy passed out in the drive through. They called cops to wake him.
— kevin kietzman (@kkwhb) August 29, 2017
Apparantly quite the ordeal for other diners in line behind him. At least one was asked by Duffy to jump into drivers seat to save him.
— kevin kietzman (@kkwhb) August 29, 2017
Employee says a worker at BK reached into his car and put it into park position. He passed out with foot on brake or neutral.
— kevin kietzman (@kkwhb) August 29, 2017
When Duffy heard sirens, he woke up and tried to get into passenger seat.
— kevin kietzman (@kkwhb) August 29, 2017
Duffy never made it to pickup window. Ran into window short of pickup while passing out. That's where his vehicle stopped.
— kevin kietzman (@kkwhb) August 29, 2017
It goes without saying that this is not the best look for a player who just signed a five-year, $65 million deal with the Royals this past offseason. Duffy may get off somewhat easy, however, as TMZ reports that drunk driving doesn’t automatically result in an arrest in Kansas. Instead, Duffy was issued a citation and permitted to have a friend come pick him up.
Duffy was placed on the disabled list Saturday with an elbow injury. He is 8-8 this season with a 3.78 ERA. He’s not the first professional athlete to be found passed out at the drive-thru, but we’re hoping he’ll be the last.
