Zach Bryan speaks out after Oklahoma arrest: ‘Emotions got the best of me’

‘Heading South’ singer was arrested on Thursday evening in Craig County, Oklahoma

Country music star Zach Bryan took to social media to confirm that he was arrested after acting “out of line” while interacting with a police officer.

On Thursday (7 September), the 27-year-old was arrested on charges of obstruction of investigation in Craig County, Oklahoma.

The following day, singer-songwriter Bryan shared a video to Twitter/X giving fans some further insight into his arrest.

“Today I had an incident with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol,” Bryan wrote. “Emotions got the best of me and I was out of line in the things I said.”

Bryan said that he took full responsibility for provoking the arrest saying he was “an idiot” and “should’ve been smarter” about his actions. The musician currently has the No 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for his song “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves.

In the video, Bryan explained that he had had two separate encounters with police in the last week while driving. The first occurred when he was pulled over and asked to give his address. Bryan refused, claiming it was a security concern given his notable status.

Bryan was put in handcuffs but ultimately let go of when the musician explained his reason for refusing to provide an address before finally giving it.

The second incident also occurred while Bryan was driving. This time, he was with his private security guard, who was driving close behind Bryan.

Bryan said that his security guard had been pulled over, so he pulled over alongside him. However, Bryan explained, he became agitated when the interaction between the officer and his security guard took a while.

“I’m just sitting there, waiting on him. Ten to 15 minutes goes by and I get out of the car and I’m like, ‘Man, why is this – what is taking so long?’” Bryan said in his video.

Bryan said that when he was asked to return to his vehicle, he resisted, leading the officer to threaten to take Bryan to jail. The interaction clearly upset the country music star who said he got to “lippy” with the officer.

“In reality, they were just doing their jobs. I was upset,” Bryan said.

After questioning the police officer’s authority and using vulgar language, Bryan was taken to jail for a few hours.

Bryan said that he ultimately apologised to the officer for his actions and shook hands with him at the end of the night.

Bryan’s mug shot soon circulated online, partially inspiring him to make the post and video explaining to fans what happened.

“I was an idiot today. And my decisions do not reflect who I was as a person. I should’ve been smarter about it,” Bryan said. “It won’t happen again.”