Hope Solo reportedly arrested on impaired driving and child abuse charges

Former USA national team goalkeeper Hope Solo was arrested on Thursday after being found passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle in a shopping centre car park with her two-year-old twins in the back seat.

Police were called to the scene in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and charged Solo with driving while impaired, resisting a public officer and misdemeanour child abuse, according to The Associated Press.

An arrest warrant reported that a passerby had noticed Solo passed out at the steering wheel for more than an hour with the engine running.

The 40-year-old was arrested but later released from a detention centre, awaiting a court date on June 28th.

Solo’s lawyer, Rich Nichols, released a statement on the situation, which the ex-US international shared on Twitter.

“On the advice of counsel, Hope can’t speak about this situation, but she wants everyone to know that her kids are her life, that she was released immediately and is now at home with her family, that the story is more sympathetic than the initial charges suggest, and that she looks forward to her opportunity to defend these charges,” Nichols said.

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Solo enjoyed a decorated international career which saw her win the 2015 World Cup and two Olympic gold medals with the USA. After 202 appearances for her nation and setting the US record for most career clean sheets, she was elected to the US Soccer Hall of Fame.

But despite being regarded as one of the top female goalkeepers of all time, Solo’s career was marred by controversies that eventually resulted in her dismissal from the national team in 2016.

The former shot-stopper was stripped of international status after the Rio Olympics. The USA has just been knocked out of the Games by