NBA’s Odom charged with driving while intoxicated
This March 26, 2013, file photo, shows Los Angeles Clippers’ Lamar Odom during an NBA basketball game in Dallas. Odom was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence early Friday, Aug. 30, 2013, after a CHP officer saw his white Mercedes-Benz traveling erratically on a San Fernando Valley freeway. The CHP says Odom, 33, was arrested after failing a field sobriety test. AP
Former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom was charged Friday with driving while intoxicated, after being arrested while driving erratically in LA last month, officials said.
Odom — the subject of a rash of news stories about alleged drug use and troubles in his marriage to reality TV show star Khloe Kardashian — was detained in the early hours of August 30, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) police force.
An arrest report said the 33-year-old former Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers standout, an NBA player for 14 seasons who has not signed a deal for next season, was seen driving his white Mercedes SUV in a “serpentine manner at 50 miles per hour.”
Odom, who showed “objective signs of intoxication and was unable to perform field sobriety tests as explained and demonstrated,” was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, according to CHP.
He was transported to a local police station, according to the report. Bail was set at $15,000, and he was released more than three hours later.
Odom’s driving license has been suspended for a year, after he refused to take either a blood or breath test, CHP spokesman Leland Tang said.
“Because he refused both tests, we took his license and gave him a form stating that his license was automatically suspended for the next year. That goes into immediate effect,” Tang said.
Since Odom refused the test, “we don’t know what might have impaired his ability to drive,” added Tang.
Odom is due back in court on September 27 to be arraigned.
Media reports in recent weeks have highlighted Odom’s alleged drug use, and suggested that he went missing last weekend after a fight with his wife, a member of the celebrity Kardashian family.
His agent said the basketball player was “not missing,” while ESPN reported Odom was at an LA hotel where friends were trying to help him with a drug problem, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Odom averaged 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game over his 961-game NBA career.
