Shaun White, the Olympic snowboard champion who was arrested Sunday after allegedly pulling the fire alarm at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., and kicking another guest who tried to prevent him from fleeing the scene, apologized for his actions via his Facebook page on Tuesday.

The athlete, whose mugshot has now been posted all over the Internet, complete with a black eye, was released from a hospital on Monday and said, "I want to apologize for the unwise choices I made over the weekend and for any inconvenience it caused my family, friends, business partners, the hotel and their guests. I was celebrating a happy occasion with a ton of family and friends and got carried away. I'm truly sorry for my poor behavior."

White, 26, was arrested on charges of vandalism and public intoxication, but according to new reports, he could have been spared the night in jail if only he had cooperated with police.

According to police who responded to the scene, White tried to leave in a taxi after all the hotel guests had been evacuated, but another guest told the driver he was going to call the police. White responded by kicking the guest, and attempting to flee again. The same guest also told police that he witnessed White intentionally destroy a hotel telephone.

"The citizen reported that he chased White until White turned and ran into him, apparently causing White to fall backwards and strike his head against a fence," stated the police report. "White was transported to a local hospital for treatment."

When police arrived, they noted that White "appeared to be extremely intoxicated and smelled strongly of alcohol," but in spite of his behavior, a police source said they tried to get him to cooperate, but White resisted.

Only after he refused to sign a citation were the police forced to haul White off to jail. "He basically put himself in jail by not signing," said the police source, in a report by gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

White won gold medals in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics for the snowboard halfpipe event. He has also 24 medals from the X Games for snowboarding and skateboarding.

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