CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns vowed to disciplined Chief of Staff Callie Brownson after she was convicted Tuesday of drunken driving on May 27th in Brunswick in which her blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit, according to court records.
Brownson was also driving 55 mph in a 35 mph zone when she was stopped at 12:27 a.m. on Pearl Road in Brunswick, according to court records. Her blood-alcohol content was .2150, court records say. The legal limit in Ohio is .08.
She pleaded guilty to the charge of operating a vehicle under the influence in Brunswick’s Mayor’s Court, and had two other charges dismissed: one for speeding and one for a blood-alcohol level above .17, which is just over twice the legal limit.
Brownson paid $780 in court costs and fines, and accrued six points on her license, which has been suspended. She avoided jail time, but must attend a driver intervention program.
“We aware of the incident and are extremely disappointed that a member of our organization put themselves in this situation,’’ the Browns said in a statement attributed to a spokesman. “We take this matter very seriously and will take the appropriate disciplinary actions.”
Brownson also faces possible discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy. A message to the league office was not immediately returned.
Brownson, 31, is in her second season as a Browns assistant coach and Kevin Stefanski’s right-hand person. She’s one of only a handful of female coaches in the NFL, and was the first woman to serve as an interim position coach for an NFL team in a game when she coached tight ends in the Browns’ 27-25 victory over the Jaguars last season.
In addition to her many responsibilities as Chief of Staff, she worked with receivers coach Chad O’Shea last season. This season, she’s assisting running backs coach Stump Mitchell.
The Browns are currently in the midst of four days of organized team activities at their headquarters in Berea. Practice is open to the media Wednesday, and Stefanski will conduct a Zoom press conference afterward.
Brownson deleted her Twitter account after news of the incident broke on Tuesday.
Stefanski credited Brownson with helping to hold the Browns together last season during the pandemic, and has called her a star in the business. He hired for the role similar to the wide-ranging one he had under former Vikings head coach Brad Childress from 2006-2008. He also vowed to groom her as a future head coach.
“Callie is uniquely situated where she can go interact with football ops or PR or the locker room or the equipment room,” Stefanski said in a release when she was hired. “She’s really the liaison to the rest of the building for me. I’m going to lean on her heavily and already have. I think she’s a go-getter. She’s self-motivated. She’s going to put all of her energy into this gig.
“What’s exciting for me is ultimately I want to develop young coaches. She’s someone that has worked on the offensive side of the ball, worked on special teams, has a great knowledge of the game and I want to let her expand that knowledge and develop her as a head coach.”
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