Bam Margera avoids jail time in California DUI case
Bam won't be going to jail.
West Chester native Bam Margera won' be going to prison in connection with a drunk driving incident in California earlier this year.
Margera, 38, however, did get three years of probation and an undisclosed amount of fines and fees, according to TMZ. The Jackass star must also go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and attend a "live in" program as part of his sentencing.
California Highway Patrol officers arrested Margera in Los Angeles in January following a traffic stop after police spotted him on his phone while driving. Cops smelled alcohol on Margera, and administered field sobriety tests, which pro skateboarder failed. He was charged with two counts of DUI, and was released on $15,000 bail shortly after his arrest.
Margera checked into rehab after the incident, TMZ reported. Previously, in 2016, he appeared in VH1's Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn and detailed his history with drinking. Last year, he told the Inquirer's Jason Nark that the death of friend Ryan Dunn, who was killed in a drunk driving crash in 2011, put him on a destructive path, which was encourage by his success on Jackass.
"It took me four beers to even feel normal. People go to rehab because drinking made them lose their job and their wife. My job is to do dumb, jackass s–, and the more shots of Crown Royal I'd do, the braver I'd be. Drinking helped me get paid," he said. "I've come to terms with the fact that it doesn't take drinking to be funny, but it took me a long time to figure that out."
The arrest was Margera's first for DUI, and came following the birth of his first son, Phoenix Wolf Margera, with wife Nicole Boyd in December. At the time, Margera was preparing to return to professional skateboarding, as he told Vice's pro skater biography series, Epicly Later'd, last year.
Currently, Margera is preparing to list his West Chester home, Castle Bam, on Airbnb for fans to rent. His mother, April Margera, is leading a renovation at the property, and hopes to have it listed online by this summer.
"He went to rehab, and he has embraced his sobriety," April told the Inquirer earlier this month. "We're really proud of him. He's moving forward, and he takes it one day at a time."