Dacula, Georgia — In September 2019, David Hobbs was arrested in an alley in his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, for breaking into a backyard shed.
Unfortunately, at the time he was dressed as the cartoon character “Captain America”. So of course the next day the pictures of the handcuffed superhero went viral. Cable networks and newspapers around the world made him the laughing stock.
“I really felt like my life was over,” the 41-year-old Hobbs told CBS News. “All these people were talking about me, making fun of me, and I’m like, man, what an embarrassment I am to my family.”
Aside from family, Hobbs says one of the few people who didn’t laugh was his childhood friend Trey Lewis.
“After I thought about the details of it, I mean it was just sadness,” Lewis said. “I mean, obviously, this was drug-induced.”
He was right about that. Hobbs had been an addict all his adult life. Fortunately, his old friend Lewis, whom Hobbs hadn’t seen in 20 years, now owned Good Landing Recovery, a treatment program based in Dacula, Georgia.
“I came here with a suitcase full of dirty clothes and half a cigarette,” Hobbs recently told a group of program participants. “That’s all I had when I got to rehab.”
Lance let Hobbs complete the program for free, and it turned out to be a success. Hobbs has now been sober for five years.
That’s why Hobbs now looks back fondly on the infamous photo of his arrest. The worst day of his life has become his best day.
“What was meant to destroy me was actually the springboard to rebuild me,” Hobbs said. “…If you still have breath in your lungs and are still alive, there’s a chance. You can turn it around.”
