Tyson Foods suspends CFO John Tyson after arrest and drunk driving charges

A top Tyson Foods executive, a member of the fourth generation of the Tyson family business, was suspended Thursday after being charged with drunken driving, the company said in a statement.

John Randal Tyson, 34, the company’s chief financial officer and great-grandson of the company’s founder, was arrested in Fayetteville, Arkansas, by University of Arkansas police and booked into the Washington County Jail around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, jail records show.

It was the second time in two years that Mr Tyson was charged with a drink-driving offense.

Mr. Tyson, whose father is Tyson’s chairman, was named the company’s chief financial officer in September 2022. He had been in the job for just over a month when he was arrested in November 2022 after a woman called police to report that she had returned to her Fayetteville home and found him sleeping in her bed, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.

Tyson Foods said in a statement on Thursday that the company was aware that Mr. Tyson had been “arrested for alleged driving under the influence.”

“Tyson Foods has suspended Mr. Tyson from his duties effective immediately,” the company said. The company appointed Curt Calaway as his interim successor.

Tyson Foods declined to comment further beyond Thursday’s statement.

According to a preliminary police report, an officer with the University of Arkansas Police Department pursued a silver SUV that appeared to be exceeding the 25 mph speed limit around 12:45 a.m. Thursday. The officer observed the vehicle make a wide turn before striking a curb on the driver’s side and traveling partially on the curb and grass before returning to the roadway.

The officer stopped the driver, identified as Mr. Tyson, and smelled a “strong odor of intoxicants coming from the vehicle,” according to the report. Mr. Tyson’s eyes appeared “bloodshot and watery,” it said.

Mr. Tyson told the officer he had not been drinking and agreed to take a breathalyzer test, the report said. The officer said Mr. Tyson smelled of alcohol. When asked how much he had drunk, Mr. Tyson said he had drunk five to seven Miller Lite beers at Maxine’s Tap Room, a cocktail bar in Fayetteville.

Mr. Tyson was arrested for drunk driving and taken to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. At approximately 2 a.m., he took a breathalyzer test that showed a blood alcohol level of .191, more than twice the legal limit of .08.

Mr Tyson was also charged with careless driving and making an improper turn. He was released from custody on Thursday morning.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Tyson apologized after his arrest in 2022 and later pleaded guilty to charges of public drunkenness and trespassing.

The woman told police that the man she found sleeping in her bed may have come in through an unlocked door, The Democrat Gazette reported, citing a preliminary police report. An officer found Mr. Tyson, who was identified by his Arkansas driver’s license, sleeping in a back bedroom, his clothes on the floor, the newspaper reported.

According to jail records, Mr. Tyson is scheduled to appear in Fayetteville District Court on July 15 on the latest charges.