Former U.S. soccer star Hope Solo pleads guilty to DWI, gets 30-day sentence, fine

Former U.S. women's national team star goalkeeper Hope Solo pleaded guilty Monday to driving while impaired, almost four months after she was found passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle in North Carolina with her 2-year-old twins inside.

Solo also was charged with misdemeanor child abuse and resisting a public officer in connection with the March 31 incident. Her attorney, Chris Clifton, said those two charges were voluntarily dismissed, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

A news release from the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office said a judge gave Solo, 40, of Roaring Gap in Alleghany County, a suspended sentence of 24 months and an active sentence of 30 days. She was given 30 days credit for time she spent at an in-patient rehabilitation facility. The judge also ordered Solo to pay $2,500 US in fines and a $600 fee for the cost of the lab tests. She also has to get a substance abuse assessment and complete all recommended treatment.

In a statement released after her guilty plea, Solo said that although she took pride in motherhood and how she and her husband handled her children during the pandemic, "it was incredibly hard and I made a huge mistake."

"Easily the worst mistake of my life. I underestimated what a destructive part of my life alcohol had become," she said. "The upside of making a mistake this big is that hard lessons are learned quickly. Learning these lessons has been difficult, and at times, very painful."

A police report said Solo was arrested in a shopping centre parking lot in Winston-Salem. According to an arrest warrant, a passerby noticed Solo passed out behind the steering wheel for more than an hour with the vehicle's engine running and the two children in the backseat.

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