Cops found loaded guns, pills and dogs inside Anheuser-Busch scion’s chopper

The helicopter of former Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV was packed with four loaded guns, eight dogs and prescription pills when he was stopped from taking off from a parking lot outside St. Louis, according to police and a search warrant application.

The search warrant filed Tuesday ordered Busch – the St. Louis-based beer maker’s CEO from 2006 until 2008 – to give blood, urine and other bodily fluid at a hospital in Belleville after his helicopter was the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Busch’s helicopter landed at about 12:48 Monday, but a caller told police roughly hours later that an “intoxicated male” was getting into a helicopter and trying to fly away. When Swansea Officer Venorsky arrived at the scene, the helicopter was getting ready to take off, but the pilot – later identified as Busch IV – shut it down.

Officer Jason Frank then spotted Busch, 53, leaning against Venorsky’s squad car, saying Busch was “unable to keep a single train of thought,” according to a sworn affidavit.

“I noticed August Adolphus Busch IV appeared anxious,” Frank wrote.

Frank then administered a Breathalyzer test, which didn’t indicate alcohol intoxication, but prompted the officer to speak to Busch’s wife, Dawna Wood, who was inside the helicopter.

“When asked, Dawna advised August Adolphus Busch IV has anxiety issues and is off of his medication due to recent fertility treatment,” Frank wrote. “I made contact with August Adolphus Busch IV, and I advised August Adolphus Busch IV, and he was free to go. Instead of departing, August Adolphus Busch IV continued to ramble about things that were unrelated. At that point, due to his continued ramblings, I became suspicious, and I reinitiated my investigation.”

Believing that Busch was under the influence of a controlled substance, Frank told the great-great-grandson of founder Adolphus Busch that he was no longer free to go.

Busch then told the officer he had a concealed carry permit and a handgun in his front pocket that was “hot,” according to Frank, who put the gun inside the helicopter.

Also found inside the helicopter were three loaded handguns, a pepper spray gun and four bottles of prescription drugs, including two for Busch. They were identified as Alprazolam, a tranquilizer, and Clonazepam, another tranquilizer to treat panic attacks. The other prescriptions belonged to Wood, according to the affidavit.

At one point, Busch told the responding officers that he was having a panic attack and began jumping and running sprints in an attempt to get oxygen to cope with the incident.

Busch was arrested and later released on Tuesday. Frank said he needed to retain evidence in the case for possible charges of reckless conduct, unlawful use of a weapon and intoxicated person in or about an aircraft. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday, the newspaper reports.

Busch’s wife was allowed to leave with the eight dogs, according to Swansea Police Chief Steve Johnson. They were believed to be Shih Tzus, a worker who watched the helicopter land on Monday afternoon said.

St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said authorities are awaiting toxicology tests to make final decision on whether to file charges.

The arrest is the latest brush with the law for Busch, who headed the company until being bought out by Belgian-based InBev in 2008.

In January, Busch was reportedly involved in an altercation at a bank in Florida when a man claimed Busch’s car blocked an ATM. Busch allegedly pulled a licensed handgun but kept it pointed at the ground when confronted by the man. Busch was not charged.

In 2010, he was questioned after his 27-year-old girlfriend was found dead at his home in Missouri. Busch was not charged in her death, which was ruled an accidental overdose after high levels of oxycodone and cocaine were found in her system, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Two years later, a lawsuit filed by the woman’s former husband was settled for $1.75 million.

And in 1983, Busch was attending the University of Arizona when he was involved in a car crash that killed a 21-year-old woman. Busch, according to news accounts cited by the Belleville News-Democrat, was later found in a dazed state at his townhouse with a sawed-off shotgun. Busch suffered a skull fracture but was not charged, the newspaper reports.