Country crooner Zach Bryan has been championed by a police organization following his arrest and subsequent online apology.
Retired Sgt. Betsy Branter Smith, a spokesperson for The National Police Association, told TMZ that officers are appreciative of the “Oklahoma Smokeshow” singer’s swift statement saying “sorry.”
“This can be a very frustrated young man and he had some inappropriate things to say, but he complied with the officers,” she told the outlet. “He didn’t attempt to fight them or attack them. He mouthed off. And he apologized.”
Bryan took to Instagram this week to detail his Thursday encounter with law enforcement, offering up an apology for “mouthing off like an idiot.”
Certainly one of his employees had been pulled over while they were on the road to Boston, prompting Bryan to drag off the road to attend. But when things were taking too long, he got out of the automobile to research himself.
Despite the officer’s demands for the hitmaker to return to his automobile, Bryan was defiant.
“And like a dumbass, I used to be like, ‘Take me to f–king jail? What do you mean?’ So I get too lippy with him, he brings me over to his automobile, and I just didn’t help my situation in any respect,” he said.
“I felt like a toddler, it was ridiculous and immature. I just pray everyone knows I don’t think I’m above the law. I used to be just being disrespectful and I shouldn’t have been. It was my mistake.”
Footage from his arrest shows Bryan grumbling that the “f—king cops are out of hand,” along with throwing a couple of insults on the officers.
Within the moment, he said his “emotions got the perfect” of him.
He was booked on Thursday in Oklahoma on an obstruction of investigation charge, based on records from the Craig County Jail.
Smith commended the chart-topping musician’s online honesty and apology and says she hopes he’ll use his platform to support law enforcement going forward.
She noted that it’s common for officers to interact with individuals who behave like Bryan, but has brushed off the singer’s comments from the warmth of the moment.
The Post couldn’t immediately reach Bryan’s reps for comment.