Actor Henry Thomas Jr. appeared to intentionally fudge a breathalyzer test and tamper with the urine sample he gave after he was found passed out in his car near a home he has in Portland, records show.
As a Tualatin police officer drove Thomas, 48, to a hospital to have his blood drawn, he threatened to sue the rookie cop and the Washington County suburb where she works.
“I hope the city has a lot of money,” Thomas told Officer Jessica Lemieux. “I am going to make sure you are fired.”
Thomas, who starred as Elliott in the film “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial,” pleaded no contest last month to driving under the influence of intoxicants. A judge ordered him into a one-year diversion program.
The new details about his Oct. 21 arrest appear in a police report obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request.
Lawyers for Thomas, whose recent credits include the Nextflix series “The Haunting of Hill House,” did not respond to emails and a phone call seeking comment Friday.
The actor recently reunited with E.T. in a four-minute ad called “A Holiday Reunion,” which premiered on Thanksgiving.
Several weeks before, Tualatin police had responded to a report of a man unconscious behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius stopped in traffic near Lower Boones Ferry Road and Southwest 72nd Avenue around 8:30 p.m.
The officers rousted the man awake.
They found Thomas disheveled inside the car, his eyes bloodshot and watery, according to police records. In the driver side door was an empty bottle of marijuana tincture, the report shows.
“I would describe Thomas’ actions as sloth like,” wrote Officer Cameron Montrose, who was first on the scene. “He very slowly looked up at me and then rolled the window down.”
Gobs of spit were dripping from a window and Thomas’ jacket, according to the police report. The smell of the pot extract filled the Prius, wrote Officer Lemieux, who joined the force in July.
The actor swayed and slurred after he got out of his car, claiming he had a couple of hard ciders earlier in the evening, police said.
He refused to take a field sobriety test and was placed under arrest.
Lemieux said she drove Thomas back to the Tualatin Police Department and tried giving him a breathalyzer test.
The suspect repeatedly blocked the machine’s mouthpiece as he feigned heavy breathing, she said.
“Thomas was puffing his cheeks and his face would get red but there would not be a lot of breath coming out,” Lemieux wrote in her report.
Later, the officer placed Thomas inside a holding cell and asked him to provide a urine sample. He returned the testing container with a cool, clear liquid filled to the brim.
“The sample had been tampered with or diluted with toilet water,” Lemieux said, noting that urine is usually warm and has some color to it.
Thomas denied any wrongdoing, the officer’s report said. He then proceeded to bang on the glass of the holding cell while Lemieux wrote a warrant to obtain a blood test from him.
As the pair drove to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Beaverton, Thomas said he was going to sue the city of Tualatin and Lemieux.
Afterward, he shared a few words about his career, the officer said.
“You know I am an actor,” Thomas told the officer, according to the police report. “I played the kid in ‘E.T.’”
-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632
Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com
Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh
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