photo source: AP

Olympic silver medalist Jeret “Speedy” Peterson has committed suicide, just days after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.  He was found beside his vehicle just outside Salt Lake City on Monday, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A spokesman for Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake, Lieutenant Justin Hoyal, says that Peterson had called 911 threatening to kill himself, and left a suicide note. The note has not been released by police.

His death comes just three days after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Idaho. He had been stopped for driving 70mph in a 25 mph zone. Peterson pleaded not guilty, and was released from jail on $500 bail.

Peterson has long faced troubles and has been open about his battle with alcoholism, gambling, and depression. He was sent home from the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, for getting into a fight. That said year, he plead guilty to theft charges, and in 2008, he was found guilty of public urination. “Things have been going wrong for me since the day I was born,” Peterson once told Men’s Journal.

Peterson won his silver medal in the men’s freestyle skiing aerials competition at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. He had announced that he would not compete in the 2012season, because he wanted to focus on his studies – business, at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

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Tags: jeret peterson, suicide
Categories: Sports