Navy SEAL Bin Laden shooter blames sleep aid for DUI charge

Robert O'Neill, the former Navy Seal credited with shooting Osama bin Laden, says he is innocent of a DUI charge in Montana and blames his condition at the time of his arrest on a prescription drug he takes for insomnia.

O'Neill, who turned 40 on Saturday, was arrested early Friday in Butte, Mont., his hometown, by officers who found him asleep in a car with the lights on and the engine running outside a convenience store.

Officers said he appeared confused and somewhat lethargic when they opened the car door and woke him up, the Montana Standard reports.

The retired Navy SEAL refused a breathalyzer test and was jailed on a charge of DUI, a misdemeanor, according to the booking report. He was released after posting a $685 bond.

"The facts are that I took a prescribed sleep aide [sic] to help with long-standing severe insomnia," O'Neill said in a statement late Friday. "While the timing was bad and I highly regret this decision, I am innocent of the charge and have entered a plea of Not Guilty."

"I am confident I will soon be cleared of this matter," he said in the statement issued by CRC Public Relations in Alexandria, Va., which handles media contacts for O'Neill, a motivational speaker.

According to the police report, O'Neill said he had one drink, then denied it, the Montana Standard reports. He also said he may have taken Ambien, a prescription drug often used to treat insomnia.

Sheriff Ed Lester issued a statement on the arrest, saying he has "great respect for Rob O'Neill and what he has done for our country."

"That being said, this incident was handled the same way as any other DUI investigation," Lester said. "Mr. O'Neill has the same presumption of innocence as any other citizen. We will let the county attorney and the court proceed from this point."

O'Neill said in his statement that he wanted to "express my appreciation to the Butte Police Department for their professionalism and courtesy."

The retired SEAL began publicly discussing his role in the 2011 bin Laden raid two years ago, according to the Associated Press.

He told The Washington Post in an interview in 2014 that he fired the two shots that killed the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks. One current and one former SEAL confirmed O'Neill's story of the raid to the AP.