TIOGA, Texas (NBC News Channel) -- Police say country superstar Randy Travis walked naked into a Texas convenience store to buy cigarettes, touching off a bizarre series of events that ended with him being charged with threatening to shoot a state trooper.
Travis was arrested Wednesday following a single-car crash near Tioga. Right before the crash, a Pilot Point convenience store clerk called 911 to report that a man had walked into the store without any clothes on and asked for cigarettes. When asked how he was going to pay for them, the man left aggravated and empty-handed.
A short time later a second caller to 911 said he found a man lying in the roadway. State troopers responding to the 911 calls found Travis, who refused a blood and breath test. He had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and several other signs of intoxication, police said. The state trooper who arrested Travis placed him into custody on suspicion of driving while intoxicated -- a Class B misdemeanor. During the arrest, Travis threatened to shoot and kill the troopers working the case, police said.
Consequently, Travis was also arrested on a charge of retaliation, a third-degree felony punishable by 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Grayson County District Attorney Joseph Brown.
A judge granted a search warrant for a blood specimen, which was later taken at a local hospital. Brown added that Travis' February arrest for public intoxication would be taken into consideration when the case goes before the court.
Travis was released Wednesday morning after posting bond of $1,500 for the DWI charge and $20,000 for the retaliation charge.
Prior to the car crash, Travis stopped at a Tiger Mart convenience store and tried to buy cigarettes -- naked.
"He walked up and I said, 'What are you doing?'" said clerk Scott Robinson. "He ordered a couple packs of cigarettes, just like anybody would order a pack of cigarettes -- except he was naked. I said, 'What are you doing in the store naked?' And he said, 'Just give me the cigarettes.'"
Robinson said he didn't realize at the time that the nude man was Travis.
"I was looking at him; I said, 'How do you plan on paying for these?'" Robinson said. "He just kind of gave up and left. I had no idea it was a famous person."
The store owner, Mike Ziyadeh, said Travis is a regular customer and is normally dressed and well-behaved.
"He always comes in, just come in and get his stuff and leave. Never been a bother," Ziyadeh said. "Well, something happened last night. I don't know what it is, but yeah, it was an incident. It was talk of town, I guess."
Ziyadeh said no other customers were in the store at the time of the incident.
Earlier this year Travis was parked in a church parking lot in Sanger, not far from his ranch in Tioga, when he was approached by an officer. The officer reported a strong odor of alcohol was coming from the vehicle and an open wine bottle on the passenger seat. The officer went on to report that the longer they talked, the more slurred Travis' speech became.
Travis told the officer he'd had an argument with his girlfriend and was trying to get back to his ranch in Tioga, which was about 20 miles away. In that incident, Travis was arrested on a charge of suspicion of public intoxication. A week later, dashcam video of the arrest was released.
