The former Dallas Cowboys star was found asleep at the wheel of a Whataburger drive-thru in McKinney, Texas on January 21, 2019 ... and you can see in the video, cops did everything they could to wake him up.

One of the officers beats on the windows of McFadden's 2019 GMC Yukon repeatedly with his fist and flashlight ... before he eventually decided to rock the car back and forth.

But, the motion caused McFadden's foot to slip off the brake and onto the gas pedal ... and that's when things took a scary turn.

McFadden's ride nosedived into the side of the fast-food restaurant ... and in an effort to get Darren to wake up and stop the car, officers smashed the hell out of his windows.

Eventually, the officers were able to bust through and get the car to stop ... but that's when 32-year-old McFadden became combative -- and fought the cops.

In the video, you can see Darren got in a big-time struggle with THREE different officers ... before they eventually pointed both a gun and a taser at him to stop him from advancing.

Thankfully, before the taser or gun was fired ... McFadden gave up and was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

The former NFL player eventually got jail time over the incident after prosecutors hit him with charges of resisting arrest and DWI with a BAC of greater than or equal to .15.

As we previously reported, McFadden agreed to a deal in February 2020 in which he pleaded guilty to drunk driving in exchange for having the resisting arrest charge dismissed.

McFadden was ordered to spend 4 days in jail, although he did receive credit for 1 day of time served. He was also forced to pay fines and fees ... and his driver's license was suspended for 90 days.