Former Indiana Basketball Player James Blackmon Jr. Arrested for OWI

Carmel police arrested Blackmon Jr. over the weekend and charged him with driving drunk.

A man with a beard wearing a black shirt looks directly at the camera. — James Blackmon Jr. (Source: Hamilton County Jail)

CARMEL, Ind. — Former Indiana high school basketball star and Indiana University point guard James Blackmon Jr. was arrested in Carmel after police said he was driving drunk.

Blackmon, 31, was arrested early Sunday morning and then booked into Hamilton County Jail on a charge of operating while intoxicated.

Carmel police responded to a “phone crash alert” that was triggered by Blackmon’s girlfriend, who threw her phone out of his car window. Officers found Blackmon standing behind his car, which was parked near Pennsylvania and 106th Street.

Police stated that Blackmon had glassy eyes and slurred speech and that they could smell an odor of alcohol on his breath. Officers also said that Blackmon failed field sobriety tests and refused a chemical test.

A search warrant has been obtained to draw Blackmon’s blood. The results of that are pending.

According to online jail records, Blackmon has since been released from Hamilton County Jail. He has an initial hearing set for July 6 in Hamilton Superior Court 6.

Blackmon, a former Indiana All-Star, has played professionally overseas ever since his three seasons at IU from 2014 to 2017.