Bill Murray was detained by police on Monday after they spotted him driving a "slow-moving vehicle" through downtown Stockholm. The vehicle was a golf cart that had been on display outside Murray's hotel. He and other VIPs were in Sweden attending the Scandinavian Masters golf tournament.
Police said that Murray had driven the golf cart to a nearby nightclub less than a mile away, and was pulled over on his way back. According to Detective-Inspector Christer Holmlund, officers smelled alcohol on Murray's breath and decided to administer a breath test. "He refused to blow in the instrument, citing American legislation," Holmlund said. "So we applied the old method -- a blood test," which Murray apparently sat still for. Police said it would take 14 days to get the results back, but Murray was released. "My guess is he went back to America," Holmlund said, demonstrating his skills as a detective-inspector.
Less clear was why they were bothering Bill Murray with a golf-cart-related offense in the first place. There was no suggestion that, drunk or not, he posed any threat to anyone on his "slow-moving vehicle," and Holmlund conceded that there were "no obvious signs" that Murray was even "really tipsy." Nor was he in trouble for taking the golf cart, said Fredrik Nilsmark, head of the tournament. The cart wasn't intended for hotel guests, he said, but "I don't hold any grudge against Bill Murray for borrowing our cart for a while." Nor is it illegal to drive a golf cart on city streets in Sweden, Holmlund admitted, though he claimed it was "very unusual."
I supported Bill Murray after he drove that heavily-armed recreational vehicle through eastern Europe a few years back, and I support him now.
Link: AP via Newsvine
