Benson arrested on DWI charge after traffic stop

Ex-UT running back has a history of run-ins with police.

Former UT football player Cedric Benson was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning, according to an arrest affidavit.

An Austin police officer pulled Benson over around 2:47 a.m. when he observed his BMW speeding in the 800 block of West Sixth Street. Benson was driving 42 mph where the speed limit is 30 mph, according to the officer’s radar, and then Benson made an “improper turn” onto North Lamar Boulevard and changed lanes without signaling, the affidavit states.

WhenpolicepulledBenson over into a 7-Eleven parking lot, the affidavit states, Benson initially disregarded the officer’s direction to stay inside his car and indicated he wanted to walk inside the convenience store. Police said in the affidavit that Benson’s eyes were glassy, he was swaying, his speech was mumbled and he smelled of alcohol. The affidavit describes Benson’s attitude as “talkative, uncooperative [and] cocky.”

According to the affidavit, Benson refused field sobriety tests, and when the officer asked him to recite the alphabet, Benson “stated he couldn’t do that because he played eight years in the NFL” and claimed he couldn’t count higher than 3. Benson also refused to perform a balance test, the affidavit states.

Benson was booked into Travis County Jail with bail set at $5,000. He posted bond and is no longer in custody, according to police.

The former running back has had a history of legal trouble in Austin. Benson was sued last July by a woman who says she and a dog she was walking in Northwest Austin were attacked by Benson’s two Rottweilers.

In December 2014, Benson was charged with public intoxication in Austin after a “verbal disturbance between a male and a female in a cab” in the 900 block of North Lamar Boulevard, according to court records.

In 2010, Benson was charged with punching a downtown Austin bar employee.

He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 20 days in jail in a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Benson compiled the second-most rushing yards in University of Texas history, amassing 5,540 yards from 2001-04, before playing for the NFL in Chicago, Cincinnati and Green Bay. Benson was released by the Bears in June 2008 after two alcohol-related incidents in Austin.