Country music star Randy Travis is no stranger to the spotlight, but the singer is suing two state agencies to prevent a video from his August drunk driving arrest from being released to the public.
As the Austin American-Statesman first reported, Travis filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas attorney general's office on May 14. The singer is seeking $100,000 and a judgment blocking the release of any information pertaining to his arrest, which involved a naked Travis crashing his Pontiac Trans Am about 60 miles north of Dallas.
Previously, a Greyson County judge had sympathized with Travis and ruled that the video of the untoward incident be "destroyed." But the Texas attorney general intervened, citing the Public Information Act. The attorney general maintains that a judge lacks the authority to restrict the release of a dash cam arrest video when it is requested by the media.
Travis has also been charged with retaliation and obstruction of justice for the August 7, 2012 incident, in which he allegedly threatened state troopers with death. The singer's rap sheet includes two other Dallas-area disturbances. Police cited Travis in an August 23, 2012 scuffle in a Plano church parking lot, and he was arrested for public intoxication outside of a Sanger, Texas church in February 2012.
