WDAE’s Ian Beckles arrested

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Ian Beckles, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman and current co-host of a WDAE-AM Tampa (Clear Channel) sports talker, was arrested 9/13 for  disorderly intoxication after he ignored orders to follow traffic signals and leave police horses alone.


Beckles, 45, was arrested about 11 p.m. near Jannus Live downtown. Police directing traffic as a crowd left the Citizen Cope concert spotted Beckles walking into traffic, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

An officer who asked him to return to the sidewalk observed Beckles was “highly intoxicated, swaying and slurring his speech,” the story said. Beckles “had difficulty speaking in complete sentences and had the strong smell of alcohol on his breath.”

When police told Beckles he could go after “educating him” on the importance of pedestrian traffic signals, Beckles slapped an officer on the back and said, “Okay, tough guy,” police said.

He continued to heckle officers until he was asked to return to the sidewalk, police said. Then Beckles moved toward an officer on horseback and was told to stay away.

He moved from that horse and toward another, police said.

Another officer began to yell, “Don’t touch the horse! Don’t touch the horse!”

Beckles touched the horse, police said.

Beckles was booked into the Pinellas County Jail at 12:41 a.m. He was released on $100 bail less than three hours later. Beckles, who was back on the air three hours later, co-hosts a the show with Florida veteran talker Ron Diaz.

He spent nine years in the NFL, from 1990-98, including the first seven with Tampa Bay, starting 105 games.

See The Tampa Bay Times story here.