Ousted ‘Big Brother’ contestant booked on DWI count in Lafayette
LAFAYETTE — Lafayette police arrested a recently ousted cast member of the reality TV series “Big Brother” early Thursday morning on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
William Glenn “Willie” Hantz, 34, of Dayton, Texas, was arrested about 2:30 a.m. near the 300 block of McKinley Street after he jumped from a 2012 yellow Camaro and ran from officers, said Cpl. Paul Mouton, spokesman for the Police Department.
Hantz was taken into custody after a short pursuit, Mouton said.
The arrest came while officers were on the scene of a disturbance involving a crowd in a McKinley Street parking lot, Mouton said.
While attempting to disperse the crowd, officers spotted Hantz’s vehicle traveling through a back portion of the parking lot where no exit was available.
“As they made their way there (toward his vehicle), the driver, later identified as Hantz, jumped out and began running,” Mouton said.
Hantz was later transported to the Lafayette Police Department, where he refused a Breathalyzer test, Mouton said.
Hantz has since been released from the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center after posting $750 bond, according to online jail records.
The Huffington Post, in a July 22 review of “Big Brother,” noted that Hantz was booted from the CBS program after he used profanity toward other cast members, kicked a door and head-butted one of the members four times.
Hantz’s older brother, Russell Hantz, also from Dayton, Texas, and also a former reality TV show cast member, had his own run-in with Lafayette police two years ago.
Russell Hantz, who had been a contestant on the CBS show “Survivor,” was cited by Lafayette police in April 2010 for simple battery, a misdemeanor, after an early morning altercation in which he allegedly pushed a female companion down, causing her minor injuries.