Exposed: Ariana Grande's Father Slapped With a Slew of Traffic Tickets, Accused of Leaving Accident Scene
Ariana Grande’s father has racked up a not-so-impressive driving record – including a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, a RadarOnline.com investigation has exclusively learned.
The songstress’ lead-footed dad, Edward C. Butera, 64, has been nabbed seven times for a variety of driving infractions in and around Boca Raton, Miami and the Florida Keys, court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com show.
Despite the repeated run-ins with law enforcement, Butera was busted two months ago in Plantation Key for allegedly using a blinding auxiliary headlight on his 2014 Jeep while driving along the two-lane U.S. 1 Highway at 6:30 a.m., according to the traffic ticket.
The most serious offense occurred in 2019, shortly before the 7 Rings singer reconciled with her estranged father who separated from her mother Joan Grande when she was 8 years old.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the star said she'd been ‘out of touch with my dad' since 2013 after an undisclosed disagreement. The Grammy-winning singer told Seventeen. "It took me so long to be okay with it."
Court documents show Butera was in a 2013 Porche on August 17, 2019, when he got into a one-car crash at 10:27 p.m. along S. Ocean Blvd. in Boca Raton and he was hit with a citation for leaving the “scene of accident.”
Butera pleaded not guilty during his arraignment and had his attorney file a demand for discovery to fight the misdemeanor – which means he could’ve been sentenced to less than a year in county jail.
One month later he changed his mind, pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 hours of community service, required to take a 4-hour defensive driving course, and fined $100.
Court records uncovered by RadarOnline.com show the 2019 incident was not the first time the road-challenged Butera was forced to take court-ordered driver safety classes.
On July 2, 2021, Florida Highway Patrol clocked him going 87 mph in a 60-mph zone in the Miami area, but the case was eventually dismissed in December.
He was again pulled over in Miami on September 21, 2018, for failing to obey a stop sign in Miami and the case was also dismissed upon completion of “traffic school” and the payment of a $186 fine.
Butera also went to school in 2014 and 2012 after receiving two speeding tickets near his Boca Raton home and again near Plantation Key, respectively, according to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com.
Documents show he completed a 4-hour course at the 123Driving.com school on Nov. 1, 2014, and he earned another certificate from the LowestPriceTrafficSchool.com on Nov. 9, 2012.
He was also nabbed on February 28, 2010, for speeding in Boca Raton and after pleading not guilty – he was eventually slapped with a $256 fine, records show.
The Thank you, Next, singer, 29, was raised by her mother Joan Grande, and reconciled with her father for Thanksgiving in 2019, according to her Instagram posts declaring: "first Thanksgiving with both of my parents in 18 years!"
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She added, "The thing that got me there was embracing the fact that that I am made up of half my dad, and a lot of my traits come from him," Ariana wrote. So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn't like that about myself. I had to accept that it's okay not to get along with somebody and still love them."
Proving she is really "made up of half" of her father, the Test Drive singer got into her first fender bender in 2014 in Los Angeles while visiting her then-rumored boyfriend Big Sean.
"I was driving to Big Sean's house on those windy hills in L.A. It was my first time going up those hills so I was going like 12 miles per hour," she told Marie Claire. "This lady was whipping around the corner, and I came to a complete stop so she bumped me really hard — the whole front of my Range Rover was wrecked. She jumped out and was like, 'Sweetie, it's OK, it's totally fine. What do you do?' I was like, 'I'm a singer.' And she was like, 'Oh, I think I broke my leg.' And I was like, 'I mean, I make jewelry.'"
When RadarOnline.com contacted Butera to ask about the driving misdeeds --- he immediately hung up.
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