JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Authorities say Butch Brown, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, was arrested at a Biloxi casino early Friday and charged with a misdemeanor of public intoxication.
Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara says Brown was released from jail on $480 bond.
Brown tells The Associated Press he was playing a penny slot machine at the Beau Rivage casino about 3 a.m., when a security guard told him he had dozed off.
Brown says the guard told him to leave the property, but Brown argued that he wanted to go to his hotel room upstairs.
Brown says he was on the coast to make a speech to the Mississippi Economic Development Council.
The 67-year-old says he'd had wine with dinner and other alcohol in the casino.
Biloxi police say the hotel held Brown under a citizens' arrest of disorderly conduct, and police charged him with public intoxication.
Beau Rivage spokeswoman Mary Cracchiolo-Spain says there was a "misunderstanding" that resulted in police being called. She says the casino considers the case closed.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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