City of Lakeway Police late Friday night (July 17, 2009) arrested 56-year-old David Michael Torbi, also known as KXAN TV (NBC) Weekend anchor and reporter David Scott, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

At 11:51 Friday night a Lakeway officer noticed Scott’s vehicle stuck in the drainage ditch on the left side of the road in the 500 block of Lakeway Drive. It was facing perpendicular to the roadway, the officer said in his report.

The officer noted in his report that Mr. Scott’s eyes were watery and glassy. He was swaying, staggering, and stumbling. There was, according to the report, a strong odor of alcohol. The officer said that he also saw a “mixed drink” in the vehicle. Mr. Scott refused sobriety tests at the scene, but according to the offense report he told the arresting officer, “I am really f**ked up. I drank way too much.”

The Lakeway officer indicated that Scott mumbled, he slurred his speech, and he was “mush-mouthed” according to the offense report. Further, he used profanity and fought with the arresting officer. The officer went on to say that Scott was uncooperative, cocky, and combative.

Scott was taken to the Travis County Jail where he was booked for Driving While Intoxicated, a Class B misdemeanor.

KXAN TV reported the arrest without comment, and the emails from newsmcnabb have not yet been answered.

Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Scott was KXAN’s main news anchor in the late 1980s and early 1990s before moving to a larger market. He returned to broadcast news in Austin about a year and a half ago. He is a Lakeway resident.

© Jim McNabb, 2009