Riders’ Hughes apologizes for impaired driving charge

Charleston Hughes is sorry.

Just one day after 980 CJME broke the news that the defensive end had been charged with impaired driving, a contrite Hughes spoke with the media about it.

“I apologize to my teammates, my fans and the staff of the organization and it’s kind of embarrassing to go through a situation like this,” Hughes said.

According to Regina police, they received a call for a report of a suspicious vehicle around 2 a.m. on Oct.11. A truck was running on the side of the road near Ring Road and North Albert Street Overpass. Initially, the man behind the wheel was not responding to police, but when he did he showed signs of intoxication.

The police charged Hughes with impaired driving and failing to provide a breath sample for analysis.

“As an organization and me personally, it’s an unfortunate event it’s something that we take very seriously and Charleston knows the situation and the magnitude of it and again it’s something we’re still gathering information on at this time,” head coach Chris Jones said Wednesday.

Jones said he met with Hughes about it and will continue to meet with him as the process goes through the courts and as the team gathers more information.

“We’re certainly not going to just throw out one of our own but at the same time he’s got to understand it’s a very serious offence,” Jones said.

The head coach did not confirm whether or not Hughes will be in the lineup for the Roughriders Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders.

Hughes will make his second court appearance on Oct. 31.