Former child actor on the U.S. sitcom "Home Improvement," Zachary Ty Bryan, was sentenced to prison for DUI.
According to U.S. entertainment outlet TMZ on the 24th (local time), Bryan was sentenced to 16 months in prison by the Riverside County Superior Court in California in connection with a DUI incident that occurred in 2024. Bryan pleaded guilty to driving with a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.15%, which is double the legal limit of 0.08%.
Bryan resolved the case through a plea agreement with prosecutors but was not granted probation (supervised release). However, 57 days he had already been incarcerated were counted toward his sentence.
The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. in February 2024 while Bryan was driving in the La Quinta area of California. Police found a vehicle they suspected had been involved in a traffic crash and stopped it, detected signs of intoxication from the driver, Bryan, and arrested him. He was charged with felony DUI and a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court.
Bryan was booked into John Benoit Detention Center immediately after his arrest, and bail was set at $50,000 for the felony charge plus $15,000 for the misdemeanor. He posted bail and was released the same day.
The problem is that this is not the first time. Bryan was also arrested in October 2024 in Custer County, Oklahoma, on charges of DUI and driving without a license. At that time he told police "I drank too much," and acknowledged that his license had expired because of multiple past DUI offenses.
Bryan's legal risk goes beyond DUI. He was arrested in 2020 on allegations that he choked his then-girlfriend, Jonnie Pay Cartwright, to the point of near asphyxiation, which sparked major controversy. In November last year, it was revealed that Cartwright received a five-year restraining order claiming Bryan had assaulted and threatened to kill her.
In response, Bryan told TMZ, "It was a painful wake-up call," and said, "As a child actor I gained fame at a young age and faced pressures I couldn't handle, but that does not justify the choices I made as an adult." He added that he "deeply regrets" his actions.
[Photo] ⓒGettyimages (Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited)
[OSEN]