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Former Anheuser-Busch CEO spends the night behind bars after police find him trying to fly his helicopter 'drunk' with his wife, eight of their dogs, prescription pills and four loaded guns

Daily Mail
July 12, 2017

The former CEO of the brewing company Anheuser-Busch spent the at a police station on Monday after being caught by police trying to fly his helicopter while appearing drunk.

August Adolphus Busch IV was with his wife, Dawna M. Wood an their eight dogs when they were stopped by authorities in the Bronze Pointe office complex parking lot in Swansea, Illinois, on Monday night.

According to an arrest affidavit, the helicopter landed in the parking lot of an office building at around 1pm. Seven hours later, police were called to reports that a drunk man was attempting to take off.

It is not clear who phoned authorities but when officers arrived, they found Busch in the pilot seat. His wife was next to him.

Officers described how he 'rambled' and struggled to speak. He admitted having a concealed weapons permit for one firearm which he was carrying.

Busch did not tell officers where he had been or where he was intending to fly to when they arrived at the scene to stop him.

The parking lot services banks and lawyers offices.

When police searched the aircraft, they found another three loaded weapons. It is not yet clear if he had licenses for those firearms.

A breathalyzer test found he had no alcohol in his system but when police asked him to submit to a blood test, he refused. They were later granted a search warrant and withdrew the blood which is now being tested.

The businessman also had a stash of prescription pills on him, some of which had been prescribed to his wife.

She is said to have told police that her husband was supposed to have been taking anxiety medication but that he had stopped to undergo fertility treatment.

Busch was taken by police to spend the night in jail but he was released without charge on Tuesday.

His lawyer, who was out of the country when the incident occurred, is on his way back to Busch's home state of Missouri.

When officers arrived at the parking lot of Bronze Pointe Office Complex on Monday, the helicopter's engine was on and the blades were already rotating, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Busch agreed to shut the copter down as police went onto to perform basic field sobriety tests, although a breathalyzer test came back negative for alcohol.

'I observed August Adolphus Busch IV to be unable to keep a single train of thought,' officer Jason Frank wrote in a sworn affidavit.

'I noticed August Adolphus Busch IV appeared anxious.'

Busch, who headed the brewing company from 2006 to 2008, was held at the Swansea Police Department until Tuesday afternoon, but has not been charged.

'This is not your normal case that a street police officer handles,' Swansea Police said in a statement.

'The safety and security of the community, the pilot and passenger were of the utmost concern.'

They added they had contacted family members to retrieve the helicopter which remained in the parking lot overnight.

Busch, who is the great-great-grandson of founder Adolphus Busch has had some close calls with the law on a number of occasions in recent years.

In 1983, Busch was the driver in a car crash which killed a female passenger. He suffered significant head injuries.

He tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

In 2010, he was questioned after his 27-year-old girlfriend was found dead at his home of an overdose.

Adrienne Nicole Martin was found with high levels of oxycodone and cocaine in her system at autopsy but her death was ruled as an accidental overdose and once again but no charges were filed.

Martin's family sued him in a wrongful death lawsuit which he settled for $1.75million in 2012.

Busch took over as the brewing company's CEO in 2006.

He spent two years in the position before selling the company - which had been in family hands for 156 years - to InBev for $52 billion.