Brennan Blood Alcohol Level Was Twice Legal Limit

Colt Brennan before the NFL draft. Photo by Ronen Zilberman – AP.

By Rodney S. Yap

Former record-breaking University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan’s blood-alcohol content of 0.17% was more than twice the legal limit when police arrested him in Kailua on July 25.

A police report with the state Driver License Revocation Office said the 28-year-old’s BAC was more than double the legal limit of .08. Brennan was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and drug possession shortly before midnight, and was released July 26 without charges, pending investigation.

The city prosecutor’s office will decide whether to charge Brennan after it receives the case from police, a spokesman told the Honolulu Star Advertiser on Tuesday.

On the night police stopped him for speeding, Brennan had reportedly been having drinks downtown with a friend, and headed to where he was staying after having recently moved back to the island. A Hawaii News Now crew saw a hat, gum and Bob Marley cigarette papers inside the rental car Brennan was driving. Police confirmed he smelled of alcohol and marijuana, and they also found a “white powdery substance” in the vehicle.

“I think it’s time for us to reach out and help him overcome these things that he’s dealing with, and I think he needs to help himself as well,” former UH associate head coach Rich Miano, now the head coach at Kaiser High, said in a Star Advertiser story last week. “These are serious charges, and whatever he can do to get his life back on track I think is first and foremost at this time.”

“He’s got a place out here, and he was planning on just trying to figure things out,” former UH running back Nate Ilaoa said of his friend and roommate in 2005 and ’06. “You get to a point in football in this situation where you want to play so bad, but it’s tough when teams don’t want you to play, or you can’t play, as much as you want to or are capable. Sometimes the (position) numbers aren’t right or the situation. You can’t play ball, and that’s tough. He’s at that stage.”

In his three years at Hawaii, Brennan set 31 NCAA records, and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting during his last season in 2007.

As a freshman at the university of Colorado, he was kicked off the football team after a woman made accusations against him. Brennan was convicted of burglary and trespassing for not leaving her dorm promptly and was sentenced to seven days in the Boulder County jail. Sexual assault charges were dismissed.

He was the Washington Redskins’ sixth-round draft pick in 2008.

Brennan developed a solid fan base in Washington despite never playing in a regular season game in two seasons. He spent 2009 on injured reserve after hip surgery, and then had knee surgery.

Brennan was cut by the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders last month.

In 2010, he was injured in a head-on crash on the Big Island. Green said he continues to deal with emotional and physical pain from the crash.

Investigators said Theresa Wang suffered traumatic injuries, including a stroke, after her car was struck head-on by an SUV driven by Brennan’s then-girlfriend, Shakti Stream.