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Longtime St. Louis Cardinals TV announcer Dan McLaughlin charged with felony persistent DWI

St. Louis Cardinals' Busch Stadium. (Jeff Curry/Reuters)
St. Louis Cardinals' Busch Stadium. (Jeff Curry/Reuters) (USA Today Sports / reuters)

[Update 12/15/22: Dan McLaughlin won't return to Cardinals broadcast booth after DWI arrest]

Longtime St. Louis Cardinals TV announcer Dan McLaughlin was arrested in a St. Louis suburb on Sunday and later charged with being a persistent offender of driving while intoxicated.

Police in Creve Coeur, Missouri say they received two calls of a suspicious vehicle believed to be driven by an impaired driver Sunday evening. An officer found and followed McLaughlin's car on I-270 and pulled him over after he failed to maintain a single driving lane, according to a police report.

The officer discovered "several clues to indicate the driver was impaired" and arrested McLaughlin on a charge of driving while intoxicated following a field sobriety test, according to the report. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the DWI arrest is at least McLaughlin's third.

St. Louis County prosecutors charged McLaughlin on Monday with persistent DWI, a Class E felony with a maximum sentence of four years in prison, the Post-Dispatch reports.

McLaughlin addressed his arrest in a statement to the Post-Dispatch.

"No excuses," McLaughlin wrote via text message. "I'm dealing with this and seeking the treatment that I need. I ask for your privacy for me and my family while I deal with the treatment I need. Thank you."

McLaughlin, 48, is the TV voice of the Cardinals and has worked in the Cardinals TV booth for 25 years, according to his bio. The Post-Dispatch reports that he was pulled over in 2011 in Chesterfield, Missouri on his second DWI charge in 13 months. Per the report, he avoided jail time and received two years probation for his first arrest.

His then-employer Fox Sports Midwest suspended him after his second arrest and later reinstated him. The Cardinals and TV partner Bally Sports had not addressed his arrest as of Monday night.