Story highlights
Cassidy blew .19% on an alcohol test, the California Highway Patrol says
The singer-actor was charged with drunken driving in 2010 in Florida and 2013 in New York
The CHP stopped his car after an illegal turn near the Los Angeles airport, it says
Cassidy starred in the 1970s TV series "The Partridge Family"
Former teen idol David Cassidy faces his third drunken driving charge after being stopped for an illegal turn in Los Angeles on Friday night.
Cassidy, 63, blew .19% – twice the legal level – on an alcohol test administered by the California Highway Patrol officer who stopped the singer-actor’s rented Chevrolet Impala, according to a CHP statement Saturday.
The former star of the TV series “The Partridge Family” was booked in a Los Angeles jail on a driving under the influence of alcohol charge early Saturday, the statement said. Jail records show he was freed on $15,000 bond several hours later.
“Cassidy was observed making a right turn on a red light, in violation of a black and white regulatory sign indicating, ‘No Right Turn On Red,’” the CHP said. The traffic stop happened off the 405 Freeway, near the Los Angeles International Airport.
The officer noticed “the odor of an alcoholic beverage was emitting from the vehicle” when he approached Cassidy, who was alone in the car, the release said.
Cassidy was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Schodack, New York, last August after he failed to dim his car’s headlights at a police checkpoint, according to the police report. He blew a .10 in the Breathalyzer device, the report said. The legal blood alcohol limit is .08 in New York.
Cassidy, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, entered a no contest plea as a first-time offender in February 2011 to a drunken driving charge that followed a November 2010 arrest in Florida. He was sentenced to a year’s probation and his driver’s license was suspended for six months for that conviction. He also attended a DUI school, paid a $500 fine and served 50 hours of community service.
On the TV series, Cassidy played the eldest of five children of a widowed mother (Shirley Jones, who was Cassidy’s real-life stepmother).
The family, all musicians, traveled to gigs in a repainted school bus. When the show was canceled after four seasons, Cassidy launched his own pop music career, filling concert halls with screaming teenage girls attracted to such hits as “I Think I Love You.”