AceShowbiz -

Sam Shepard was taken into police custody on Monday night, May 25. The 71-year-old actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving outside La Choza restaurant in downtown Santa Fe.

The "Bloodline" star was approached by police after a concerned security at the restaurant called them about a possibly intoxicated driver. The actor reportedly tried to drive off in his blue Tacoma pickup truck with the emergency break still on.

"Our officer could smell alcohol on his breath, and he had bloodshot, watery eyes," said Santa Fe police Lt. Andrea Dobyn. Shepard told an officer he had two tequila drinks. He refused to take a breath test but did perform a field sobriety test, which he failed.

Shepard was open about his struggle with alcohol addiction in the past. "Prior to that I was sober for four years and then I relapsed," he discussed a previous DUI arrest with the Guardian in 2010. "It's a constant struggle. It's such a knucklehead disease because you refuse to see it."