Alice Walton was arrested Friday night in Texas for driving while intoxicated on Interstate 20 in Weatherford, Texas, west of Fort Worth. Friday was her 62nd birthday. She was released on a $1,000 bond.
She was convicted in a DWI case in Springdale in 1998. She was involved in a fatal accident in 1989, but no charges were filed.
The Weatherford Democrat broke the news. Here’s the full newspaper account. The report said:
Typically, jail book-in information and a head shot picture are published on the Parker County Jail website within hours of an arrest in Parker County. However, Walton’s arrest information and mug shot did not appear to be published on the Parker County Jail website until a call was made to the Parker County Sheriff’s Office from a Democrat reporter Wednesday afternoon.
Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said as far as he knows, the information was published on the website all along and wasn’t aware there was an issue viewing the information on the website.
“There’s no conspiracy,” Fowler said.
The information and mugshot are available on the web now.
Timing is unfortunate. Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is to be part of multiple activities leading up to and including the opening Nov. 11 of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The Walton family has given at least $2.4 billion to underwrite the museum.
UPDATE: A spokesman for Walton has issued a statement in which she takes responsibility for the incident.
“Ms. Walton was pulled over by a patrolman with the Department of Public Safety for driving 71 mph in an unattended 55 mph construction zone,” Walton’s attorny, Dee J. Kelly, said in a statement. “She was returning home from a birthday dinner with friends at a Fort Worth restaurant. She accepts full responsibility for this unfortunate incident and deeply regrets it.”