Associate Coach for the New Jersey Devils and former head coach of the Florida Panthers, Andrew Brunette, made national headlines after he was arrested for DUI on Wednesday.
ESPN reports that Brunette was pulled over by Broward County Sheriff’s Department deputies near Deerfield Beach in an illegally parked golf cart outside a bar. Burnette told the responding deputies that he was leaving as a deputy wrote the citation. The deputy, however, noticed Brunette’s slurred speech and observed that he was also “unsteady on his feet.”
The deputy then observed Brunette blow through two stop signs while driving away from the scene. The deputy pulled him over and asked for his driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.
Brunette handed over all of the requested documentation; however, the driver’s license he presented to the deputy belonged to his wife. When the deputy asked why he didn’t have his license, Brunette told him it was “because he wasn’t driving.”
A spokesperson for the Devils told reporters that they were aware of the reports about the incident and were looking into the matter.
Court documents indicate that Brunette has been involved in two other traffic incidents in Florida. In 2021 he was cited for going 27 miles an hour in a 15-mile-an-hour school zone; three months later, he was cited for traveling 58 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone.
Brunette is in his first season with the Devils after being fired by the Panthers following the team’s loss in second-round playoffs last spring. The Devils hired him in July of last year. Currently, the Devils are in second place in the Metropolitan Division hockey’s All-Star Break.
