On May 11, David E. Picray drove to a bar to pick-up his wife and friends. Through a text message he learned the group had moved to another bar a block away. Picray drove closer to the second bar, and the short distance moved aroused the suspicion of Officer Dave Cox.

Cox wrote in his drunk driving arrest report that Picray’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and that his tongue had a light green coating. Picray had been suffering from a cold and was chewing gum. Picray registered a 0.00% blood alcohol content on a Breathalyzer, and a drug test revealed only trace amounts of codeine from cold medicine.

Picray notified the City of Corvallis of his intent to sue for false arrest, which lead to an investigation of Officer Cox. It was discovered that at least six of 27 motorists arrested by Cox for Oregon DUI last May registered BAC levels below the legal limit of 0.08% and drug tests were negative. Nonetheless, the majority of the arrest reports from May contained nearly identical notations of "bloodshot and glassy eyes" and other alleged indicators of intoxication.

Oregon DUI defense attorneys claim it is a common practice to write an arrest report to reflect what the officer should have seen in order to substantiate the arrest. The larger concern is that police officers have learned that pay reviews and awards can be influenced by performance; the higher the number of arrests, the greater the potential for reward. Unfortunately this system places economics as a higher motive for issuing traffic citations than highway safety.

Officer Cox was placed on paid leave and he subsequently resigned. Picray was not charged with an Oregon DUI, though the arrest will remain on his record.

The story takes a few twists and turns from that point.

Even though the University of Oregon athletic department publicly announced the suspension of football receiver Derrick Jones for ‘a violation of team rules’, the suspension of the team mascot for fighting with the Houston Cougars mascot and the recent suspension of two basketball players, it elected to keep Luke Bellotti’s three game suspension a secret. The coaching staff decided instead to explain the absence of the coach’s son as a case of ‘digestive illness’.

A sports journalist with The Oregonian revealed Luke Bellotti’s drunk driving arrests, and questioned the perceived double standard in remaining quiet about the suspension of the head coach’s son while making public the alcohol related transgressions of other athletes. During the Oregon Ducks football game against PAC 10 conference rival USC Trojans, coach Mike Bellotti’s ex-wife Colleen sought out the journalist to berate him for writing about her son’s DUI arrests. She, along with friends, several young children, Luke’s girlfriend and a nanny entered the press box at Autzen stadium during the fourth quarter of the Oregon-USC game and proceeded to go on a profanity-laced tirade. Colleen Bellotti’s breath reportedly reeked of alcohol, as she grabbed the journalist’s suit lapel and threatened to slap him. The nanny, holding Bellotti’s infant son, also entered the fray with her own string of profanity.

The situation ended with Oregon's sports information director calling security.

Thomas Daniels, 21, entered a guilty plea to an Oregon DUI arrest in 2004, and was required to pay a fine, join a one-year alcohol program, attend AA meetings and regularly see a probation counselor.

The DUI arrest was to be expunged from his records after completion of the court mandated requirements stemming from his conviction.

The Oregon DUI was not Daniels’ only arrest. In late 2005 he was involved with a hit-and-run accident. He failed to appear in court for that incident and he was arrested again.

Daniels did not indicate whether he disclosed his criminal past to the producers of American Idol.