Singer David Cassidy arrested on suspicion of drunken driving

[January 13, 2014]   (Reuters) — David Cassidy, a former teen idol and star of the 1970s U.S. television series "The Partridge Family," was arrested in California on Friday night on suspicion of drunken driving — his third such arrest since 2010.

Cassidy, 63, was stopped on a road near Los Angeles International Airport after making a right turn on a red light in violation of a posted sign, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.

After smelling alcohol coming from Cassidy's vehicle, an officer gave him a field sobriety test that showed a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent, police said. That level is more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in California.

Cassidy was alone in the car, police said.

Cassidy was charged in August with drunken driving in Schodack, New York, after initially being stopped for not dimming his headlights, authorities said at the time. He was arrested and convicted for drunken driving in Florida in 2010.

Cassidy's manager and publicist, Jo-Ann Geffen, said in an email on Saturday that the singer had just finished a stint in rehab and was faring well in sobriety. He was in Los Angeles for a deposition related to a lawsuit he has filed over money he says is due him from "Partridge Family" merchandise, videos and other material, she said.

"After attending his and his manager's depositions, it appears as if the pressure led to a brief relapse," Geffen said. "He was on his way to the airport to return to his home in Florida and to transitional rehabilitation. He plans now to return to rehab in an undisclosed facility."

Cassidy became a worldwide teenage heartthrob in the 1970s with hits such as "Cherish" and "I Think I Love You" during the run of "The Partridge Family," a television series about a family of pop singers. He has since appeared on Broadway, in U.S. stage shows and in films.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; editing by David Bailey, Dan Grebler and Lisa Shumaker)

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