Reality television personality Melissa Rycroft was arrested in Texas on Sunday in connection with driving while intoxicated after police said she was involved in a hit-and-run collision with an ambulance.
The arrest marks the second time in less than two years that the 43-year-old former The Bachelor star has been charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) in Texas. It comes months after she entered a guilty plea in August 2026 in connection with a September 2025 drunken driving incident, for which she received 20 months of probation.
In a statement to The Daily Mail, the Southlake Police Department said officers responded at around 5:50 p.m. on Saturday to reports of a hit-and-run collision involving a driver who struck an ambulance that was stopped at a stop sign.
Authorities said no injuries were reported in the crash. According to police, officers subsequently located the driver of the hit-and-run vehicle, identified her as Rycroft, and transported her to the Keller Regional Detention Facility for processing.
Southlake arrest charges and Tarrant County bond amounts
Jail records reviewed by The Daily Mail showed that the Dallas-born television personality was in custody on Sunday at the Tarrant County Corrections Center after being taken into custody by the Southlake Police Department.
According to those records, Rycroft was arrested in connection with second-degree driving while intoxicated, which carries a $7,500 bond. Records indicated she was also charged with driving with a prior conviction or suspension without financial responsibility, which carries a $500 bond, and collision involving damage to a vehicle of at least $200, which carries a $1,000 bond.
Southlake and neighboring Keller are suburban cities in northeastern Tarrant County within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The Tarrant County Corrections Center is the main county detention facility in Fort Worth, the county seat of Tarrant County.
The Daily Mail reported that it had reached out to representatives for Rycroft, her lawyer Bret Martin, and the Tarrant County District Clerk's Office for further comment on the story.
August 2026 guilty plea and probation conditions
Rycroft had previously been arrested on September 23, 2025, in connection with driving while intoxicated and entered a guilty plea to the charge in August 2026.
With the August 2026 plea deal, Rycroft avoided a potential 280-day jail sentence and was ordered by the court to pay $2,087 in fines and remain on probation for 20 months.
Under the terms of her plea agreement, according to records reviewed by Us Weekly, Rycroft also agreed to finish 36 hours of community service and take a course on DWI education.
According to the court records, she was ordered by the court not to "consume or possess any alcoholic beverages" and to "abstain from illegal use, possession, or sale of controlled substances, marijuana or cannabinoids."
Rycroft also agreed under the court order to pay for "non-dilute urine samples for testing for controlled substances and cannabis as directed by the court" and to drive with a "camera equipped ignition interlock device," according to the records.
An ignition interlock device is a breath-testing instrument connected to a vehicle's starting system that requires a driver to provide an alcohol-free breath sample before the engine will start. Camera-equipped models capture an image of the person providing the sample to verify the identity of the driver taking the test.
Statements after the September 2025 DWI arrest
In the wake of her September 2025 arrest, her lawyer Bret Martin released a statement to Entertainment Weekly addressing the allegation.
"I want to remind the public of the fundamental principle of our justice system... every individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty," Martin said in the statement. "We, as a society, have gotten completely away from this fundamental concept. My client was arrested on the allegation of driving while intoxicated. An arrest is no indication of guilt."
A month after that arrest, in October 2025, Rycroft responded to a message from a follower who had reached out to comfort her.
"Life really sucks right now and I'm struggling, but I'm trying to march forward...but thank you for the sweet words in what seems like a world of negativity," Rycroft wrote in the October 2025 message.
Melissa Rycroft on The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars
Born in Dallas, Rycroft first worked in television as a one-time Dallas Cowboys cheerleader with the National Football League squad for the Dallas Cowboys. She cheered for the team for two seasons from 2006 to 2008 and appeared on the Country Music Television reality series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
She rose to national prominence in 2009 when appearing on season 13 of the American Broadcasting Company reality dating series The Bachelor. Rycroft got engaged to star Jason Mesnick in the season finale, though the pair split up shortly afterward during the show's After the Final Rose special.
Following the split, Rycroft rekindled a relationship with Tye Strickland, and the pair married in December 2009. They are parents to three children: Ava Grace, 15, Beckett Thomas, 12, and Cayson Jack, 10.
Rycroft also competed on the eighth season of the celebrity ballroom competition Dancing with the Stars in 2009, placing third alongside professional partner Tony Dovolani, and returned in 2012 for the show's 15th season All-Stars edition, where she and Dovolani won the championship.
