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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jessica Gibb

Taylor Hawkins narrowly avoided arrest back in 2000 while Dave Grohl was taken to jail

Taylor Hawkins narrowly avoided spending a night in jail for driving under the influence back in 2000 - while his bandmate Dave Grohl wasn't so lucky.

The 50-year-old Foo Fighters drummer died in a hotel room at the Casa Medina in the north of Colombia's capital Bogota ahead of a festival the band were due to play on Friday night.

Resurfaced footage from a 2015 interview shows Taylor reliving one of his wildest moments with Dave on tour.

The band were performing at the Big Day Out festival on the Gold Coast in 2000 when the pals rented mopeds for sightseeing.

But while riding the scooter back to their hotel, Dave was pulled over at a police sobriety checkpoint, and was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.95.

Taylor Hawkins revealed he narrowly missed spending a night in jail in unearthed interview (Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

In Australia, it is an offence to drive or operate a vehicle with a blood alcohol of over 0.05 - and so Dave was taken to court.

He had to return to the Gold Coast to face court during the band's Australian tour.

He was convicted and given a $400 fine - but Taylor wasn't over the limit.

"Me and him got mopeds down on the Gold Coast like everybody does, goes around, it was great fun, so we spent a couple of days down there before the show," Taylor told ABC's 7.30.

"Show day comes, it's a beautiful day. We took the scooters – I think [Grohl] even rode it up on stage like you were in Judas Priest for the first song. So afterwards we stayed, we hung, we partied, Dave was over-served, it was a very irresponsible barman backstage who over-served Dave.

Taylor had 'great fun' with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on tour (Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

"And then me and Dave were riding home on our scooters, and I wasn't hammered actually.

"I had a bag of weed in my pocket, but he was hammered. And we both got stopped in one of those f**king police sobriety checkpoints – I passed, Dave failed."

The drummer's death at age 50 may be drug related, according to Colombian police.

The pair were firm friends and bandmates (Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock)

The Metropolitan Police of Bogota, in a statement carried by several Colombian newspapers, said: “The cause of death has yet to be established.

“According to those close to him, the death could be related to the consumption of drugs.”

Local reports in Colombia said hotel staff called the emergency services after Taylor complained of suffering chest pains.

He was already dead by the time medical responders arrived at his hotel room.

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