Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson‘s older boyfriend Dralin Carwell landed himself in jail earlier this week after allegedly leading cops on a wild car chase– with Alana riding in the car with him!
TMZ broke the news on Thursday that Dralin— who is due to appear on the upcoming season of Mama June: Family Crisis— was arrested in Georgia and charged with DUI (among other things) on February 28. Dralin was reportedly driving with Alana and another man when cops ran his plates and saw that the car’s owner had outstanding warrants.
According to the Monroe County Reporter— a local newspaper that featured the story on its front page on Wednesday— the officer tried to pull the car over, but Dralin did not stop. Instead, he led cops on a three-mile chase, which finally ended when cops used a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver to spin Dralin’s car and get it to stop.
Court records obtained by The Ashley state that Dralin was officially charged with “Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Police Officer,” as well as “DUI- Less Safe-Drugs.” (This is a charge that means the drugs Dralin allegedly had in his system made his driving less safe.) He also faces three traffic-related charges, in addition to the outstanding warrants he is facing from Wilkinson County, Georgia.
TMZ reports that marijuana was found in the car.
Although Alana wasn’t arrested or charged with any crime, the other man in the car— Julian Williams— was also hauled off to jail after it was discovered that he, too, had outstanding warrants. Alana, meanwhile, was picked up by her sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon (who has custody of the 17-year-old). A photo run in the Monroe County Recorder shows Alana standing on the side of the road after the car chase.
Dralin bonded out of jail for $25,000, after spending two days behind bars.
This is not Dralin’s first run-in with the law. Dralin was arrested in May 2019 (before he was dating Alana), and was initially charged with statutory rape. According to police reports, Dralin–- who was 18 at the time of that arrest—– was busted for having sex with a 15 year-old. While the alleged victim told police the sex was consensual, the legal age of consent in Georgia is 16. The charge was eventually dismissed.
When Dralin’s legal issues were made public in July 2022, Alana defended him and commented that the age difference between the two of them doesn’t matter.
“I don’t care because, like, at the end of the day, my sister [Pumpkin] approves, his mom approves, and we’re happy,” she said. “So what fans got to say or what haters got to say I really don’t care.”
At the time, Pumpkin echoed Alana’s sentiments, stating that she has no problem with the age gap between Alana and Dralin.
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“He is a little bit older but [my husband] Josh is a little bit older than me,” Pumpkin said. “But that’s obvious [where] a lot of backlash that they get [comes from]. But I like Dralin a lot. The kids love Dralin, Josh loves Dralin. I don’t care about all the background noise. His family is so great…they have been very good to us and they have treated us just like family.”
Pumpkin also noted that her sister is more mature after growing up in the spotlight.
“She’s not getting married, she’s not having a kid, she’s doing very good in school…They really are on the same wavelength…Alana has seen a lot, done a lot so Alana is very mature for her age,” she said.
Alana, Pumpkin and Dralin have yet to speak on Dralin’s latest arrest.
RELATED STORY: Alana Thompson Refuses to Attend Mama June Shannon’s Wedding: A First Look at the Upcoming Season of ‘Mama June: Family Crisis’
(Photos: Instagram; WEtv; Monroe County Sherriff’s Office)
20 Responses
He is just another problem she doesn’t need. She’s had a lot of family issues and stress and doesn’t need to drag around someone who is dragging her down rather than lifting her up. College dorms is where she should be without a dog and an older criminal boyfriend!
This guy sounded icky from the beginning. Does he want fame? Because I don’t see any other way. When she will get older, she will realize what a mistake she made by dating a guy like that. (There’s no way these two are staying together for long)
Thankfully no one got hurt. Think about that Pumpkin please, you are the one who had to mature from young age because your mom is a POS.
I’m with Pumpkin about the age difference.
However this idiot would not take my child anywhere anymore until I was 300% sure his issues were in the far past and over.
He could have killed them all.
I had 4 year older BF before 18 and older dates and BF after. I was never groomed or pushed into anything. Tried dating younger but that never worked out for me, THOSE guys were only after that one thing and not about a future together.
I dated older as well but the guys never had criminal records with children.
Nor was I a TV star with serious family problems.
His intentions are bad. Plain and simple.
I have a hard time believing he’s straight. She may be getting paid to virtue signal, like Leah did.
Carwell- ironic!
I dunno I think this is the type of think Pumpkin should be bothered about… he’s always in some legal trouble, I’m not concerned about the age gap, but I’d be concerned about this kind of behaviour it would raise a lot of red flags. But I also think these girls repeat the trauma cycle because of their mother, while pumpkin is doing 100x better than June ever could she seems to overlook things like this.
The ? doesn’t fall far from the ?.
Well….duh! Every Single Time, guys.
So does that mean he is currently 22 and she is 17? That’s a no from me, dawg. It’s different when youre older. If she was 25 and he was 30, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But this girl is in high school and he just passed the legal drinking age. The life stages are too far apart. You may think it’s cool when you’re a teenager (I know all my friends did), but once you get older, you can see just how creepy it really is.
I also dated older men when I was a teenager because I thought I was mature for my age. I cringe so much now at how dumb I was and how much I was manipulated by those older men. No self respecting adult is going to date a teenager. I wish her family would protect her instead of enabling this man to take advantage of her.
Trash attracts trash. No surprise here.
?
So she’s already using drugs. I wouldnt expect anything less.
Run, run, run Alana! Don’t ignore these huge glaring red flags.
Drugs, poor decision making, existing warrants, driving under the influence, hanging out with felons…each one is a red flag that this dude isn’t marriage material. There are probably a few more you aren’t disclosing. If you stay with this bad boy, you’re signing yourself up for heartbreak after heartbreak, abs a world of hurt.
And just cos someone tells you what you don’t want to hear does not make them a hater. Most folks are rooting for you and want you to succeed in life.
It’s likely you won’t see this or even listen because you are 17, but perchance you do, know this ..there are many other men in the world that will love you and treat you well. Find someone who brings peace to your life, not chaos. Dump this guy before he ruins your life.
I wonder what Pumpkin thinks of all this…
Please Alana don’t follow your mom’s footsteps. You deserve better than a criminal that drags you to this kind of shenanigans. Get rid of him
She’ll be pregnant before u know it. Sure show won’t do anything but reward her. That’s problem with these shows they reward bad behavior
You think getting pregnant young is bad behavior? It’s not always the responsible thing…but being irresponsible ISNT bad.
Time to kick Dralin to the curb. Never should have been in the picture in the first place. That photo of Alana on the side of the road breaks my heart. You can still see the lost little girl in her.