Diana Ross Arrested, Charged With DUI

ByABC News
December 30, 2002, 9:11 PM

Dec. 30 -- Diana Ross was arrested for alleged drunken driving early Monday after witnesses reported seeing her vehicle swerving on a Tucson, Ariz. road, police said.

A breathalyzer test showed that the singer had a blood-alcohol level of .20, more than twice Arizona's legal limit of .08 at the time of her arrest, police said. Ross was stopped by Tucson police at 12:37 a.m. after witnesses reported seeing her white car swerving on the city's east side.

Ross was cited for extreme DUI and police provided her transport home, Tuscon police Sgt. Judy Altieri told ABCNEWS.com. A motorist is considered extreme DUI when their blood-alcohol level is .15 or higher.

"Extreme DUI is a misdemeanor and it is normally our policy to release those who are extreme DUI," said Altieri. "The only time we hold people who are stopped on the field is if there is a felony involved or we have reason to believe they are not who they say they are. She [Ross] signed a promise to appear in court so she was released."

Police on the scene said Ross was cooperative when she was arrested, Altieri said. She is scheduled to make her first appearance on the misdemeanor charge on Jan. 13

Last June, Ross, 58, admitted herself into Promises, a Malibu, Calif. drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that has treated stars such as Ben Affleck, Robert Downey, Jr. and Charlie Sheen. In August, she canceled the remaining dates of her summer concert tour for undisclosed reasons.

Her last noted run-in with the law was in 1999 when she objected what she felt was an overly-intimate search by a female security guard at Heathrow Airport.