An Ohio State football player has been charged with operating a vehicle while impaired after cops found him passed out at the wheel with his car still in drive, at a McDonald’s drive-thru.
Marcus Hooker, who played in seven games for the Buckeyes during the 2020 season, had pulled into the McDonald’s in Columbus in the early hours of March 13 and was waiting to order in a drive-thru lane when he appears to have fallen asleep.
Police bodycamera footage captured the moment officers approached his car after the restaurant manager called 911 at 2am. Officers found the vehicle was still in drive but Hooker had allegedly passed out with his foot on the brake.
New body cam footage shows the OVI arrest of Marcus Hooker, an Ohio State football player
When officers responded to a McDonald’s on March 13, Hooker was found out in his car
‘Is the car unlocked,’ a female police officer says in the body cam footage as officers approach the vehicle.
The officer asks if Hooker’s foot is on the break, which another officer confirms.
Police attempt to wake the athlete, who is slumped over in the driver’s seat, by knocking on the window, shining a flashlight in his eyes, and even shaking the car.
‘Hey big guy!’ the female officer yells, while a male officer identifies flavored tobacco in Hooker’s hand.
When none of that is successful, they decide to try the sirens.
‘Hit him with the whoop, let’s wake him up,’ the female officer says. ‘Hit him with a little whoop whoop for me.’
The sirens appear to wake Hooker up for a moment, but he quickly begins falling back asleep as the female officer asks Hooker to put his car in park.
‘You were asleep, remember that? A little sleepy, huh,’ a female officer says to Hooker
Hooker was given field sobriety tests before being arrested for OVI. He refused a breath test
Hooker was set to be arraigned last week, but will now be arraigned on April 12
‘Never seen a guy this out, man,’ she says.
After a debate about the merits of smashing the window, the female officer says ‘We tried’ before a male officer smashes in the back right window, which still fails to wake up Hooker completely.
Eventually, an officer reaches over to put the car in park and Hooker is taken out of the car and put on the ground, where officer comments suggest he becomes slightly agitated.
‘You okay?,’ the female officer says to Hooker, who is put in handcuffs. ‘Hey, calm down. You okay? We’re just checking on you, you’re fine.’
‘You were asleep, remember that? A little sleepy, huh.’
According to FOX8, field sobriety tests were performed after the body cam footage ended, which led to Hooker’s arrest.
Hooker, who refused to take a breath test, was set to be arraigned on March 19, but it was postponed to April 12.
Hooker, a safety on the Buckeyes, has been suspended from the team for an undefined period
This was not Hooker’s first run-in with the law, as he was cited in Pennsylvania for a DUI in 2018, which led to a suspension.
WBNS reports that the vehicle Hooker was driving was taken to the Columbus Police Department’s impound lot.
Hooker, a safety on the football team, has also been suspended from the team, though no timeline was given for how long the suspension would last for the New Castle, Pennsylvania native.
Marcus is the younger brother of Malik Hooker, a former Buckeyes safety who spent four years with the Indianapolis Colts and is currently a free agent in the NFL.