John Randal Tyson pleaded not guilty to driving while intoxicated in Washington County District Court on Monday, a charge stemming from his arrest by University of Arkansas police June 13 in Fayetteville.
Tyson, 34, entered the plea through his attorney, W.H. Taylor, via email, according to a spokesperson for the court’s Fayetteville department. Tyson was the CFO at Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale before his arrest, but the company suspended him from his duties after his arrest.
Tyson is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 28. Tyson is the son of John Tyson, the chairman of the board at Tyson Foods, a company founded by John Randal Tyson’s great grandfather.
Tyson also faces charges of careless driving and making an improper turn/U-turn. According to a police report obtained by Arkansas Business news partner KFSM, Tyson was driving an SUV near Maple Street and Leverett Avenue and appeared to be going over the speed limit before he made an improper turn and struck a curb.
The report said that Tyson had a “strong odor of intoxicants.” He told officers that he was coming from his sister’s wedding and, “If I get into trouble tonight and go to bed it will ruin the rest of my life.”
Tyson told police that he didn’t have anything to drink at the wedding, but his passenger, a woman, said he did have multiple drinks. When an officer asked Tyson if he would perform field sobriety tests, Tyson replied that it “would literally ruin his life,” the report said.
Tyson eventually agreed to perform the sobriety tests. Once completed, he told the officer that he had about six or seven drinks and that he had actually come from Dickson Street. His blood alcohol content later tested at .191, more than twice the legal limit of .08.
It was Tyson’s second alcohol-related arrest since November 2022. He pleaded guilty in January 23 to misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and public intoxication in 2023 after a woman found him asleep in her bedroom; he was fined $440.
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