Ex-Anheuser-Busch CEO Had No Drugs, Booze In System During Helicopter Flight: Tests

ST. LOUIS, MO — Police said former Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV appeared "intoxicated" when he landed a helicopter at an office park in Swansea, Illinois. The helicopter had landed near buildings and other obstacles, police said.

But Busch did not have drugs or alcohol in his system during the July flight, tests showed. The findings come from the Illinois State Police's forensic services laboratory in Springfield, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Busch was gone when officers arrived and returned nearly eight hours later. Police said he failed field sobriety tests and refused to let him take off.

Busch was CEO of the brewing giant from 2006 until it was bought out by InBev in 2008.

Busch's attorney, Maurice Graham, said in a statement that the results aren't a surprise. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Photo credit: Derik Holtmann/Belleville News-Democrat via AP