Hope Solo, the former U.S. Women’s National Team goalkeeper and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been arrested twice in incidents that drew national attention: a 2014 domestic violence arrest in Kirkland, Washington, and a 2022 arrest for driving while impaired in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her two-year-old twins in the back seat. The Washington case was eventually dismissed in 2018 without ever going to trial. The North Carolina case ended with a guilty plea to DWI in July 2022.
The 2022 DWI Arrest in Winston-Salem
On March 31, 2022, a Winston-Salem police officer found Solo asleep behind the wheel of a running GMC Yukon in a Walmart parking lot on Parkway Village Circle. Her twins, Vittorio and Lozen, were asleep in the back seat. A magistrate’s order stated she had been unconscious at the wheel for more than an hour.1CBS 17. Hope Solo Arrested for DWI With Kids in Car in NC
Officer A.J. Sereika reported a sweet smell of alcohol inside the SUV and described Solo as “completely oblivious.” Solo told him she had pulled over to nap because she was tired and denied drinking. She tried to record the encounter on her phone and called someone to explain the situation. A second officer, G.J. Mager, took the phone, and when Solo repeatedly asked to call her attorney and refused to step out, he physically removed her from the vehicle. She also refused field sobriety tests.2USA Today. Hope Solo DWI Arrest New Body Camera Video
A mandatory blood test later returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.24, three times the legal limit, and also showed THC in her system.3WXII 12. Hope Solo Pleads Guilty to DWI for March 2022 Arrest She was charged with driving while impaired, misdemeanor child abuse, and resisting a public officer.4QC News. Hope Solo Booked on DWI, Child Abuse, Resisting Arrest Charges
How the DWI Case Was Resolved
On April 29, 2022, Solo announced she was entering an in-patient alcohol treatment program and asked the National Soccer Hall of Fame to postpone her induction. She completed 30 days at a rehabilitation facility called Hope Valley.5CBS 17. Soccer Legend Hope Solo Sentenced to 30 Days After DWI Arrest in Winston-Salem
On July 25, 2022, Solo appeared in Forsyth County District Court before Judge Victoria Roemer and pleaded guilty to driving while impaired. She received a two-year suspended jail sentence, 24 months of probation, and a $2,500 fine. She was required to surrender her driver’s license and complete a substance abuse assessment and any recommended treatment. The 30-day active portion of the sentence was satisfied by her time already spent in rehab.6Yahoo Sports. Hope Solo Pleads Guilty to DWI: Easily the Worst Mistake of My Life As part of the plea agreement, the misdemeanor child abuse and resisting a public officer charges were voluntarily dismissed.7ESPN. Hope Solo Pleads Guilty to DWI, Gets Suspended Sentence, Fine A related Department of Social Services case was closed after Solo finished the requested assessments and classes.4QC News. Hope Solo Booked on DWI, Child Abuse, Resisting Arrest Charges
In an Instagram statement that day, Solo called the arrest “easily the worst mistake of my life” and said she had “underestimated what a destructive part of my life alcohol had become.”8CBC. Hope Solo Pleads Guilty to DWI
The 2014 Domestic Violence Arrest
Eight years earlier, on June 21, 2014, Kirkland, Washington, police arrested Solo and charged her with two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault after an altercation at the home of her older half-sister, Teresa Obert. The alleged victims were Obert and Obert’s 17-year-old son, Solo’s nephew.9CNN. Hope Solo Domestic Assault Charge
Officers on scene found redness, scratch marks, and bruising on both Obert and her son and concluded Solo was the “primary aggressor.” The Kirkland Police Department said Solo appeared “intoxicated and upset.”9CNN. Hope Solo Domestic Assault Charge Reports described her as combative during the arrest and said she directed profanities at officers.10ESPN. Detailed Look at Hope Solo Domestic Violence Case
Solo maintained she was the victim. She said her nephew, whom she described as 6-foot-9 and 280 pounds, had hit her with a stick and given her a concussion, and her attorney, Todd Maybrown, called the nephew the “true aggressor.” Obert and her son testified that Solo was intoxicated and repeatedly attacked them.10ESPN. Detailed Look at Hope Solo Domestic Violence Case
Dismissal, Appeal, and Final Dismissal
Solo pleaded not guilty. On January 13, 2015, Kirkland Municipal Court Judge Michael Lambo dismissed the case on procedural grounds, citing the alleged victims’ lack of cooperation and the prosecution’s failure to follow discovery rules on witnesses. A long-term restraining order kept Solo from coming within 1,000 feet of Obert and her son for two years.10ESPN. Detailed Look at Hope Solo Domestic Violence Case
The city of Kirkland appealed. In October 2015, Superior Court Judge Douglass North reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to municipal court for trial.11Seattle Times. Hope Solo to Face Domestic Violence Charges After Reversal of Court Decision It lingered for years. A second defense motion to dismiss failed in 2016, and the case never went to trial. In late May 2018, Kirkland dismissed the charges outright, with prosecutors saying the circumstances were “unlikely to recur” and that their witnesses did not want to testify.12The Oregonian. Domestic Violence Case Against Hope Solo Dismissed
The 2015 U.S. Soccer Van Incident
One other episode is often folded into stories about Solo’s arrests, but she was not arrested in it. In January 2015, days after the domestic violence charges were first dismissed, her husband Jerramy Stevens was arrested for DUI in Southern California while driving a U.S. Soccer-owned van. Solo was a passenger.13Time. Hope Solo’s Husband Driving U.S. Soccer Team Van During DUI Arrest Two days later, U.S. Soccer suspended her for 30 days, citing a “poor decision” and a recent pattern of behavior. Solo later called her choice to be in the van “horrible” and said she should have taken a taxi. She was reinstated on February 21, 2015.14Las Vegas Review-Journal. Hope Solo Admits She Made Horrible Choice on Night of Husband’s DUI