By guest-writer
Justin Blackmon, a sophomore receiver on the Oklahoma State football team, was arrested under suspicion of DUI this week, after he was pulled over on the interstate around Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Blackmon announced an apology following the announcement of his DUI arrest. He apologized to his family and friends, and to the school, according to NewsOK.
“I made a mistake, and I take full responsibility for it. I look forward to redeeming myself. This isn’t who I am.”
Blackmon has been suspended for a game by head football Mike Gundy, the match-up between Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
“In our opinion, what he did deserves a suspension for this game,” said Gundy. “It was very easy for us. That’s a decision he made, and he has to suffer the consequences.”
Blackmon was stopped after being clocked driving 92 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour zone on Interstate 35. He was subsequently arrested for suspicion of DUI.
Blackmon didn’t have to speak to the press so soon after his arrest. However, he appeared at a press conference less than 48 hours. When asked why, he told the press, “to prove I’m not that guy and own up to my mistakes. I did it, and I should be punished for it.”
“6:51,” replied Coach Gundy about when he heard about the DUI arrest, referring to how early in the morning he got the call. “Usually when I get a call that early in the morning it’s not good.” Gundy also said that Blackmon was “a caring person who made a mistake.”
Several other OSU football players were in the car with Blackmon, though no other students have been punished by the football program for anything that occurred that night.
Blackmon has been tagged for speeding in the past, once for driving 20 to 25 miles per hour over the limit, and another time for driving 93 in a 70 mile per hour zone.
The legal investigation is still under way, so Blackmon didn’t answer any specific questions about the case.
According to Texas DUI law, a police officer doesn’t have to place a minor into custody for the Class C misdemeanor DUI.
By guest-writer
The trial of DUI defendant Andrew Gallo is now focused recently on whether Gallo knew that driving drunk was a dangerous decision just before he hit and killed Nick Adenhart, a pitcher for Major League Baseballs’ Anaheim Angels, and two other people.
The prosecution in the case, in its closing statements, made the claim that Gallo knew the dangers of what he was doing, and that he cared only about himself, according to an article in the Associated Press.
Deputy District Attorney Susan Price told the jury in the California DUI case that Gallo “made the decision to get intoxicated beyond the point of any reason.”
The defense argued that Gallo did not act out of malice, and did not mean to kill anybody. According to the defense, Gallo thought that his stepbrother would be the designated driver, and only drove after his stepbrother became intoxicated as well.
Gallo was in a state of blackout brought on by excessive drinking.
Price replied by saying, “He doesn’t get rewarded for three free murders because he chose to get too drunk. The car keys weren’t forced upon him. They weren’t glued to his hand.”
The prosecution allege that Gallo and his stepbrother drank beer and took shots at three different bars over the course of several hours before he ran a red light at 65 miles per hour and struck the car in which Adenhart was a passenger.
Adenhart was killed, as were his friends Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson. Their car was allegedly T-boned by Gallo’s car. Stewart and Pearson were killed instantly, while Adenhart died while in surgery. Earlier that evening Adenhart had pitched his first game of the season for the Anaheim Angels.
Jon Wilhite was the fourth passenger in the car and the only survivor. He has endured a long rehabilitation after skull and spine injuries.
Gallo has pleaded not guilty to three counts of second degree murder. According to the prosecution, his blood alcohol content was three time over the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle.
If he is convicted of the charges, which include others for fleeing the scene and DUI-related charges, he faces 50 years in jail.
By Topher
Paris Hilton has faced public embarrassment before, and no we’re not talking about her reality TV series with Nicole Richie. She’s had sex tapes revealed, been arrested for DUI and even spent a little time in jail.
Now, though, after her boyfriend was stopped for suspected DUI, she could be facing the most serious stumble of her life, as she faces felony drug possession charges.
Police allegedly found a bindle of cocaine in her purse while she took a bathroom break at a nearby casino, according to People.
The car that Hilton was riding in at the time of the traffic stop was driven by her boyfriend, nightclub owner Cy Waits. The police officer on the scene said that he smelled marijuana smoke wafting from the vehicle and pulled it over.
Waits was later arrested, on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In the meantime Hilton asked if she could be taken to the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. Officers granted her request, and it was while Hilton was taking lip balm out of her purse that an officer saw the small bundle that he suspected could have been cocaine.
It turned out to be .8 grams of cocaine. The purse also contained cigarette rolling papers that are typically used to roll marijuana joints and a cracked tablet of the asthma drug Albuterol, which Hilton said she had a prescription for.
Hilton claimed that the purse was not hers, that she had borrowed it from a friend of hers. Some of the items in the purse were hers, and some were not. The rolling papers were hers, she said, as well as cash and credit cards and the Albuterol, but not the cocaine.
According to the report, Hilton claimed that when she saw the cocaine, she thought that it was chewing gum.
CBS reported that Hilton stated that she isn’t worried about the felony drug charges, which carry a maximum sentence of four years in jail. Reports say that the Las Vegas District Attorney has already filed the felony case against the heiress. The same DA put O.J. Simpson in the slammer on robbery charges.
By Topher
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s wife was once again arrested for DUI, this time for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs.
Mary Kennedy was pulled over for speeding at 8 in the morning, according to the Journal News, when police decided to perform sobriety tests and made the arrest for driving while impaired by drugs.
According to the police report, she was driving her 2004 Volvo 82 miles per hour when police pulled her over.
The arrest comes on the heels of a license suspension that was handed down to Kennedy just a month ago, after she pleaded guilty to driving while drunk.
At the time of the latest arrest, Kennedy had a conditional license, which made it legal for her to drive in certain limited situations. She told police that she was going to yoga class.
She was taken to a police station in nearby Millbrook, New York, where an expert in drug-recognition determined that she was under the influence of a prescription medication.
This is the latest in an ongoing series of soap opera-like events for Mary Kennedy. In one bad week in May of this year her husband filed for divorce, police responded to repeated calls to her home in Bedford, New York, and she was charged with DUI.
The May 15 arrest came after she was pulled over after police saw her run her car onto a curb outside of a school. Police said that her speech was blurred. She had a blood-alcohol content of .11.
A few days before that, when police came to her house after she called 911, they found that Mary Kennedy was visibly drunk, that she was having trouble gathering her thoughts or letting police know why she called.
A few days after that, her husband filed for divorce, and the day after that the police returned to the couple’s home on a report of a domestic incident.
In mid-July Kennedy was able to plead guilty to a lesser charge for the DUI, and she had to pay a $500 fine and attend DWI classes.
By Topher
English cricketer Graeme Swann was recently stopped for drunk driving at 3 in the morning in Nottingham, England.
His excuse for driving under the influence? His cat, which had gotten lodged underneath the floor of his home.
According to his story, as reported by the Telegraph, Swann had returned home from a birthday celebration with his wife at the late hour, and on arriving home found that his kitten was stuck under the floor.
Swann then, according to his side of things, rushed to drive to a 24-hour supermarket to buy some tools to help free his unlucky feline.
Police stopped Swann’s white Porsche Cayenne because there had been robberies in the neighborhood recently. Before the stop was made, police report that Swann accelerated “at speed” before the officer put on his flashing lights and the cricketer stopped.
“A male got out of the driver’s seat,” says Pc Steven Denniss. “I saw something in his right hand and saw they were a set of screwdrivers.”
Swann told the officer about his trapped cat, and according to the report his speech was slightly slurred. Swann apologized and told the officer that he knew that he should not have been driving, but that he “only went to Asda to get some screwdrivers to get the cat out.”
Another officer on the scene reported that he thought that, given the robberies in the neighborhood, she suspected that they had another thief on their hands.
Swann told police that the screwdrivers were not what they thought, and that they should call his wife to confirm his story. Police put a call in for a sergeant to stop by the athlete’s home and make sure that the cat was alright.
“[Swann] was very chatty,” the report continued. “He said he had been out celebrating his birthday with his partner. Mr. Swann was in a panic and seemed very concerned about the cat.”
According to the court that heard the case, Swann was “borderline” over the legal drunk driving limit. In England, the legal limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
Swann was named England’s cricketer of the year this year. He is a bowler on the English national team, and took 10 wickets in a test in Bangladesh in March, which propelled him to the award.
No word on whether police ever caught the cat burglars terrorizing the neighborhood, but it’s probably a safe bet that the cat itself was fine.
By Topher
Lindsay Lohan will be doing time for her DUI offense.
That’s 90 days in jail, though it’s unlikely she’ll serve the whole stint.
Some sources say that she was experiencing some serious anxiety about her time behind bars. Who wouldn’t?
“She’s really nervous,” someone close to Lohan to told E! News. “She is still hoping she is not going to jail.”
Unfortunately for the starlet, Lohan will be spending at least some time in the clink.
Lohan will soon report to the jail to begin serving her sentence, although overcrowding causes many sentences to be shortened.
Lohan will appear in court, and then she will be taken to the Century Regional Detention Facility, in Lynnwood, California. Here are a few things that E! News wants you to know about the impending jail sentence of a young woman convicted of DUI.
Lohan Isn’t the First Celebrity Starlet to Spend Time in Lynnwood
Paris Hilton once stayed in the same facility. In 2007 she spent 23 days serving time for violating the probation on a reckless driving charge.
Khloe Kardashian Odom once spent four-and-a-half hours in Lynnwood for violating her own DUI charge. While Khloe was there, she was placed in solitary confinement. The jail received three bomb threats during her stay, though it’s unclear why.
Nicole Richie did a tough 82 minutes of time for her own 2007 DUI conviction.
Even Lindsay Lohan herself served 84 minutes in 2007 from DUI arrests that year.
Rules of the DUI Road
Lohan won’t get any preferential treatment in lock-up. She’ll be allowed visitors during much of the day on weekends. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous hold daily meetings inside, and numerous ministries operate in the jail. Also, there is no smoking at Lynnwood, so Lohan will have to do without her nicotine fix.
Ladies Only
The Century Regional Detention Facility is a female-only facility, with 1,800 inmates.
When Paris Hilton served time, she had good things to say about the populace, saying that her fellow inmates were “very supportive.” She talked to her fellow inmates from cell to cell.
Lohan will be in a 12-foot-by-8-foot cell with two bunk beds, a toilet, a sink, a stool, table and a six-inch window. She will be separated from other prisoners because of her status.
By Topher
It seems on the surface that there have been a lot of celebrity DUIs lately, whether you’re talking about Chris Klein, Lindsay Lohan, Motley Crue musician Vince Neil or any one of several stars from “The Hills.”
So what’s the deal with all of the celebrity DUI arrests? Fox411 digs into this question in a recent article. In it, they ask whether the uptick in offenses has to do with more celebrities breaking the law, or with law enforcement techniques that are busting more DUI offenders in general.
According to California DUI lawyer Neil Shouse, “There has been a prominent step up in law enforcement. A lot more people call in to report drunk drivers and there are a lot more DUI checkpoints. The California Highway Patrol has also become much more aggressive.”
Shouse also cited an increase in funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to curb DUI, which we have covered on the blog before.
A representative from the LAPD confirmed the increase in police presence working to curb drunk driving.
Despite the higher levels of prevention and enforcement, one would think that celebrities could afford to take cabs or get one of the members of their entourage to be the designated driver for the night. However, that’s not always the case.
One star, actor Kiefer Sutherland, turned down the opportunity to have a personal driver take him home on the night that he was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
According to some, there are psychological forces at play when it comes to celebrities who are willing to risk driving while drunk.
DUI attorney Shouse told Fox411 that “stars often see themselves as having a sense of immunity and a very dangerous false sense of security.” New Jersey lawyer Darren Del Sardo suggested that celebrities might drink to escape the daily scrutiny that a modern life in the spotlight can entail.
Entertainment reporter Scott Huver offered a cynical attitude: “There is a breed of young star who, seeing the press that Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan generate from their legal problems, somehow believes any publicity is somehow good publicity.”
It is perhaps hard to imagine how the legal repercussions of a DUI could help a young performer’s career, but in a way that may be what the public finds so attractive about the Hollywood set, that being their unpredictability.
By Topher
University of Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans has since issued a public apology and resigned from his position following his arrest on DUI charges, according to the Atlanta Journal-Consititution.
The resignation followed a conference call that Evans had with members of the school’s executive committee of the athletic association’s board of directors. Evans offered his “sincerest apology” to University of Georgia fans, student-athletes, coaches and officials, as well as to his wife.
“It had been my hope since taking the job in 2004 that I would have a long career at UGA,” Evans said. “But because of a serious mistake in judgment, that won’t be the case, and I understand that I have a long road to rebuilding my reputation and career.”
Evans, who was only 34-years-old when he was hired as the school’s athletic director in 2004, was arrested in Atlanta, late at night. He was charged with DUI and with failure to maintain a lane. A companion of his was also arrested at the time, for disorderly conduct. Evans claimed that the woman, Courtney Fuhrmann, was just a friend of his, while Fuhrmann said that she had been seeing the athletic director for “only a week or so,” according to the Associated Press.
Evans recently met with a lawyer, Edward Tolley, of the Athens, Georgia, law firm Cook, Noell, Tolley, Bates and Michael.
“I explained to Damon in general terms what the law is,” said Tolley. “I’m sending him to somebody who is an expert with the law in this area and familiar with the Atlanta judicial system. Local representation is important in cases like this.”
Tolley is associated with the Georgia Athletic Association, so he recommended that Evans seek individual counsel to handle the DUI case. Tolley recommended the lawyer Steve Weiner, whom he called an expert in the field of DUI arrest.
Evans, who is married with two kids, was the first African-American athletic director hired at the University of Georgia. There is no word from UGA officials about a replacement for Evans in the athletic director position.
Evans will receive three months in severance pay after his resignation, as well as a $100,000 longevity bonus.
By Topher
With the extended run of poor play and shabby team management the Detroit Lions have subjected their fans to, one might think that the executives responsible would do their best to avoid any more negative press.
But Detroit Lions team president Tom Lewand finds himself in hot water after a DUI arrest after failing a field sobriety test and registering a blood-alcohol content that was more than twice the legal limit.
Lewand was pulled over by police after they saw that he was driving erratically. Lewand told the deputies that pulled him over that he was the designated driver, and that he had not had a drink in a year and a half. Lewand’s story was that he had driven to a bar to pick up a friend.
The deputies smelled alcohol coming from the driver’s side of the vehicle, despite the story that Lewand provided.
The police report described Lewand’s eyes as “glossy and bloodshot.” When Lewand was subjected to field sobriety tests, he could not, according to reports, walk heel to toe, balance on one leg, or touch his finger to his nose.
Lewand then took several breath tests, on which he registered a .21 and a .20 blood-alcohol content.
Lewand apologized for his behavior in a statement that he released over the weekend.
According to the Detroit Free-Press, Lewand had been participating in alcohol abuse treatment for several months preceding the arrest.
Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, said that he plans on talking to Lewand about the arrest. Goodell has played a major role in disciplinary negotiations in more notorious cases like that of Michael Vick and his dog fighting conviction.
“Our policies apply to everyone,” said Goodell. “Yours truly, club presidents, players, coaches, everybody involved in the NFL. I think Tom recognizes that and, of course, I will speak to him in the near future, and we’ll be gathering the facts. Everybody’s accountable, and everyone’s responsible.”
Lewand had been in the area around Houghton Lake for a charity golf tournament, along with several members of the Lions football team.
By Topher
Celebrity DUI arrests made headlines again this week, both involving actors known for their work in the early 2000s.
Actor Chris Klein, best known for his role in the hit “American Pie” movie checked into rehab after he was arrested for DUI for the second time, according to People.com.
Klein was arrested on suspicion of DUI on June 16 by the California Highway Patrol, after he was seen swerving across lanes on the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles.
He measured, according to police, a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit. The 31-year-old actor had faced DUI charges in the past in San Diego County, when he was pulled over in 2005.
According to People.com, his decision to enter rehab was a decision he made as a way to bring others in to help him with an alcohol problem that he’d been dealing with by himself for years.
“[Klein] understands now that he can not beat this disease alone,” said his representative. “He thanks everyone for their support as he takes all the necessary steps to deal with his addiction and asks for privacy while doing so.”
Klein will seek treatment at a center in Utah called the Cirque Lodge. Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Melanie Griffith and other celebrities received treatment at the same facility.
Klein was once engaged to starlet Katie Holmes. He will enter a 30-day program, with a plan to stay longer if he needs to.
Soproanos Star Arrested for DUI in Florida
Joseph Gannascoli, who played Vito Spatafore on the successful HBO drama “The Sopranos,” faces DUI charges in Tampa, Florida. The 51-year-old Gannascoli was pulled over just before 3 a.m. by a police officer dedicated to DUI stops when he made a wide turn, drifted in his lane and drove over a lane marker.
The officer smelled alcohol and noted Gannascoli’s slurred speech, so he administered a field sobriety test. The actor failed the test, and blew a .111 on a Breathalyzer test. He was arrested for suspicion of DUI.
Gannascoli’s website noted that he was in town to promote his brand of cigars.
By Topher
Teresa Collett, the law professor who is running for a congressional seat in the state, recently revealed previous run-ins with the law included DUI arrests.
The St. Paul resident was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol, according to the Star Tribune. The article also goes on to say that it is rare for a congressional candidate in Minnesota that has been endorsed by a political party. Collett has been endorsed by the Republican party.
Police records indicate that Collett was arrested for drunken driving, and she received a citation for careless driving. She acknowledged in an interview that she had been drinking alcohol, but also said that she had been taking an antidepressant for the symptoms of migraines. That drug, she claimed, made the effects of the alcohol more dramatic.
Collett said that she told her GOP endorsers about her DUI record before they officially lodged their endorsement. State Republican Party chair Tony Sutton was one of the people who learned about the DUI.
“I said, ‘Look, you make mistakes, you make amends for those mistakes and you move on,’” said Sutton. “She’s a human being. And I don’t think this detracts one bit from her ability to serve in the Congress and to do a great job for the people of the Fourth District.”
The arrest for DUI came in 2006, when a fellow motorist saw her weaving back and forth on the road and called the police near Minnetonka. A police officer later saw the same thing as Collett’s car swerved into an oncoming lane.
Her blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.17 percent, and the officer discontinued the field sobriety test because Collett kept losing her balance. She told the police that she had been to a wine bar after a meeting with the dean of the school where she is a professor, and that she had at least three glasses of wine before she got behind the wheel to drive home.
“Ms. Collett told me that she was supposed to have a talk with her husband tonight about her drinking,” the officer included in his report.
Collett would plead guilty to the DUI charge, and accepted the 30-day workhouse sentence, which was converted to two days of community service and two years of probation.
By Topher
Thomas Kinkade is known as the Painter of Light for his luminous, other-wordly paintings of rustic village scenes and spiritual scenery.
But the picture wasn’t so rosy for the famous artist when he was arrested for DUI in Carmel, California, recently, according to the Monterey Herald.
Kinkade was driving his 2006 Mercedes Benz just after nine o’clock in the evening on a Friday when police pulled him over because the car did not have a front license plate on it. When officers approached the vehicle, they could smell alcohol coming from the driver, Kinkade.
Officers called in the California Highway Patrol, who proceeded with their investigation for driving under the influence. A CHP officer gave Kinkade a field sobriety test, according to the CHP.
Kinkade, though polite and cooperative, did register “signs of impairment” in the judgment of the officer who was giving the field sobriety test.
The Painter of Light was then arrested and taken to a medical center, where the results of his blood-alcohol content were measured, and from which the results are pending. Kinkade was booked in jail and released on bail.
Kinkade is a resident of Carmel. The news came after the recent story that his production company was filling for bankruptcy.
More Celebrity DUI News
In another job for the California Highway Patrol, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald was arrested for suspicion of DUI on a recent Saturday evening. McDonald was allegedly driving 94 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone when he was pulled over.
He was driving a black BMW, and police noticed an odor of alcohol in the car when he approached the driver’s side. While it’s not known if McDonald took a breath test or a blood-alcohol content test, he did take a field sobriety test, and was arrested on suspicion of DUI after that point. He was booked into county jail and released soon after.
According to the 49ers, the 25-year-old McDonald quickly informed them of the incident. He was present at their most recent practice the morning after the arrest. He also apologized for his actions.
“My intent is just to come out here and work hard and try to win ball games this year,” he said. “And I don’t want this to be a distraction for the fans, my family, my teammates. That’s pretty much it.”
This wasn’t the first brush with the law at NFL training camp. In 2006, another 49er was stopped for speeding in the area. Receiver Antonio Bryant was driving his orange Lamborghini over 100 miles per hour when he passed a police cruiser on the highway. Bryant was so belligerent that he had to be held down with restraints. The charges were later dropped, though Bryant was suspended for four games.
By Topher
Lindsay Lohan has been an active participant in the celebrity news cycle throughout her Hollywood career. A new scandal or piece of juicy gossip about the young actress seems to emerge every week or two, reminding us how calm most of our lives are in comparison.
But a recent turn has taken Lohan from the world of L.A. gossip to serious legal tangle, as she had to appear in court after pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and no contest to three driving charges in 2007. She was given probation at the time.
Now, a judge has ordered that Lohan must wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, and submit to drug testing in the L.A. every week, the San Jose Mercury News is reporting.
At first, Lohan’s lawyer attempted to contest the ruling that her client had to wear a bracelet. The judge responded that she would be happy to spend the next half an hour listing reasons that she is requiring Lohan to wear the bracelet tracking her blood alcohol content. The lawyer accepted that as basis enough to continue without further challenge.
The judge also ordered an alcohol education program for the starlet.
Her appearance in court recently was to address the fact that Lohan, had missed an appointment to appear in court last week for a progress report on her probation. On the day that she was supposed to be in Beverly Hills for that progress report, she was actually in Cannes, France, partying at the Cannes Film Festival. A warrant for her arrest was sent out, though it was recalled after Lohan posted bail.
Lohan’s lawyer claimed that her passport had been stolen while she was in France, and that it prevented her from getting on a flight from France.
The weekly drug testing could jeopardize a movie project that Lohan was scheduled to film in Texas. When presented with this information, the judge suggested that the project would have to wait.
Lohan spent several hours after the court session, waiting to have the alcohol-monitoring bracelet put on. She will have to wear the bracelet at least until her next hearing, which will take place in July.
While ignition interlock devices are common penalties for a DUI arrest, alcohol monitoring bracelets are less common. However, this high-profile case has brought them to the attention of the public at large, and even some mothers have an interest in using them to keep tabs on their teenagers.
Steps such as these are still a ways off, however, as the bracelet is not widely available.
By Topher
Yet another public official is in the spotlight for reasons that have nothing to do with civic involvement.
State Representative Ron Stephens pleaded guilty to DUI following a recent arrest in Illinois, according to an article from the Belleville News-Democrat.
He was sentenced to a year of court supervision after the guilty plea, in which he admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol. His driver’s license was also suspended until October 30, though he maintains an active pharmacist’s license.
Stephens was arrested for DUI in March 2010 after he was pulled over by Decatur, Illinois, police. He was given a blood-alcohol test and registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.101, which is over the legal limit of 0.08. The police report said that Stephens had been on his way home from dinner with friends, where he had consumed two Jack and Cokes.
Stephens’ office decided not to comment, and said that Stephens would not discuss the case in interviews or comments beyond a statement that he made to the public after he was arrested in March.
This isn’t Stephens first run-in with the authorities. He is a pharmacist, but his license was put on probation in 2001 when he was found to have diverted controlled substances from his pharmacy to his personal control. He went though 11 weeks of drug rehab that same year. His license was on probation for more than five years after that.
The probation ended in 2007, though he said he didn’t intend to keep up his practice. As of very recently his status as a pharmacist was listed as active.
Recently the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said that they didn’t intend to renew his pharmacy license. Stephens had a month to request a hearing in that case. According to a spokesman, however, Stephens’ license wasn’t due to expire until 2012.
Stephens, a Republican, has been a member of the state assembly since 1985, minus a two-year stint when he was not elected to the position. As a representative of the 102nd district, he serves a number of counties in southern Illinois, and lives in Greenville, Illinois. He was born in East St. Louis, Illinois.
By Topher
The Tim Welsh era was over almost as soon as it started.
Welsh took the head basketball coaching job at Hofstra on March 31. He had just barely assembled his staff, began recruiting new players and setting up workouts.
But just last weekend Welsh was arrested for DWI, and the charges have brought an end his tenure barely a month after it started.
Welsh had what the New York Post called a “sterling reputation” in the New York area with high school coaches and the media. He had no prior arrests.
Nonetheless, Hofstra demanded Welsh’s resignation from its highest offices. Athletic director Jack Hayes was not happy with the alleged DUI offense, but he had been willing to keep Welsh around. University president Stuart Rabinowitz, however, made the final decision to demand the resignation.
“Tim Welsh tendered his resignation as the Hofstra University men’s basketball coach,” said Hofstra vice president of university relations Melissa Connolly in a statement. “The University accepted the resignation in the best interests of the University and of the men’s basketball program.”
Hayes and Rabinowitz had met to figure out how to begin the search for a new coach, and there is the possibility that an assistant could step into the role. That could last for an interim year, or the school could start a major search process.
Welsh told the Post that he “felt that it was in the best interests of Hofstra University, my family and myself to make this decision and move forward.” He did not discuss the DUI arrest that had led to his resignation.
A source said that Welsh was as concerned about his assistant coaches and their professional fate as he was his own.
According to the New York Times, Welsh registered a blood alcohol content of 0.18 when he was pulled over while driving on a major road in Nassau, Long Island. He was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI. He had reportedly been drinking at a wine bar. At the time of the arrest, he was preparing to move with his wife from Rhode Island to start the new job.
His court case has been postponed until June 1, though the resignation takes effect right away.