The on-air sports director at KCRA-TV, Rodrick "Del" Rodgers, was arrested on suspicion of driving under influence (DUI) on New Year's Eve.
According to ABC10, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) stopped Rodgers who was driving northbound on Highway 99 in Stockston, south of Golden Gate Avenue. Sgt. Kyle Plant of the California Highway Patrol in Stockston said that the incident occured at 12:15 a.m. on New Year's Eve.
The CHP said that additional details on Rodgers' arrest including blood alcohol content and a booking photograph could not be provided.
Del Rodgers is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1982 National Football League (NFL) draft. A running back from the University of Utah, Rodgers played for the Packers until 1985, then left the league for a year. He returned to play with the San Francisco 49ers for two seasons, and received a ring in the team's 1989 Super Bowl XXIII victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rodgers went on to work in the sports departments of KMST-TV in Monterey, KSBW-TV in Salinas, KIRO-TV in Seattle and WXIA-TV in Atlanta. He joined Channel 3 in Sacramento in 1997 and mark covering prep sports. In 2006, Rodgers was the weekend sports anchorman to replace sports director Ron Hyde when he retired.
Del Rodgers is currently the sports director at NBC affiliate KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, and anchors sportscasts Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. A News Director at KCRA-TV Lori Waldon refused to comment on Rodgers' arrest because it's a personnel matter.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Rodgers is the second household name in Sacramento TV that has been arrested on suspicion of DUI in the last month. Earlier on December, Good Day Sacramento host Mark S. Allen was arrested for the second time for suspicion of DUI. He was arrested on early morning hour on Dec 4 in Riseville. The car was reported to have exited the freeway and traveled onto Atlantic Street.
In a separate statement, the California Highway Patrol said that freeway fatalities were up but arrests for suspicion of drunk driving for the New Year's holiday were down this year compared to last year, according to CBS8.
The CHP reported that a total of 566 arrests were made for suspicion of drunk driving in 2015 statewide. The number was up from 510 arrests made for the same period in 2014. Traffic-related deaths were also up in the state, to 12 fatalities reported in 2015 from nine fatalities reported in 2014.
