Tiger King saga personalities Jeff and Lauren Lowe both arrested in Oklahoma City on suspicion of DUI

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Jeff Lowe, the controversial figure from the Tiger King saga, was arrested in Oklahoma City along with his wife, Lauren Lowe, on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Jeff Lowe – listed in the report as Jeffery Lee Lowe – and Lauren Lowe were both arrested at around 1:50 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to an Oklahoma City Police Department report.

An officer saw a white Range Rover – bearing a specialized Oklahoma license plate with "TGRK1NG" on it – jump a curb while leaving a parking lot in the 2500 block of North Pennsylvania Avenue at high speed, according to the report.

The Range Rover stopped as the officer approached.

A woman later identified as Lauren Lowe, 30, opened the driver side door, leaned out and yelled for help in "a slurred speech," the police report states.

The front seat passenger – later identified as Jeff Lowe – and a backseat passenger then exited the Range Rover.

Jeff Lowe, 56, walked around the back of the vehicle and entered the driver's seat as the officer activated his squad car's overhead lights.

"Lauren remained outside the vehicle and Jeffery began to drive northbound on N. Pennsylvania Ave. until pulling in to a parking lot at 2600 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Prior to entering the parking lot, Jeffery changed lanes from the inside lane to the outside lane without signaling," the officer said in the police report.

The officer approached the Ranger Rover and knocked on the window. The officer said he could smell a strong odor of alcohol as Jeff Lowe stepped out of the vehicle.

"As Jeffery was exiting the vehicle, he had difficulty standing and appeared uncoordinated. He had to brace himself on the door and he stumbled as he stood and walked," the officer said.

The officer said Jeff Lowe's speech was so slurred that he had trouble understanding him at times.

Jeff Lowe agreed to perform a series of field sobriety tests, but failed a gaze test that required him to move only his eyes while following prompts from the officer, according to the police report.

"Due to Jeffery's unsteadiness on his feet and his inability to follow the directions, I terminated the testing," the officer said in the report.

The officer said Jeff Lowe agreed to take a breath test. He then spoke with Lauren Lowe. He noted in the report that she had a thick, slurred speech, was unsteady on her feet and had a strong odor of alcohol consumption.

Jeff Lowe was taken to the police station and given two breath tests. The first test registered him as having .18 breath alcohol concentration (BrAC); the second test registered him as having .17 BrAC, the police report states.

Information was not provided on whether a breath test was administered on Lauren Lowe.

U.S. law enforcement agents recently seized 68 protected lions, tigers and lion-tiger hybrids and a jaguar from Jeff and Lauren Lowe's Tiger King Park in May.

A federal judge ordered the Lowes to surrender each big cat cub in their possession, as well as the cubs' mothers, to the government, which worked with sanctuaries to find safe homes for the cats.

The judge ruled that the government could seize the cats on the merits of its claims that Jeff and Lauren Lowe “violated the Endangered Species Act, as well as the Animal Welfare Act.”

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The Department of Justice said the Lowes failed to provide safe conditions, proper nutrition and timely veterinary care, which caused harm to a number of the animals and resulted in the death of two tiger cubs less than a week apart.

The Lowes had a “pattern and practice of providing substandard care” to the cats at Tiger King Park, DOJ officials said.

“This seizure should send a clear message that the Justice Department takes alleged harm to captive-bred animals protected under the Endangered Species Act very seriously,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jean E. Williams of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Tiger King Park was once owned by Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic.

Maldonado-Passage is serving a prison sentence for two counts of hiring someone to murder Carole Baskin, a big cat advocate he long feuded with.

'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,' a popular Netflix docuseries, chronicled the conflict between Maldonado-Passage, Baskin and Lowe.