PHOENIX -- Country singer Glen Campbell, whose hits included "Rhinestone Cowboy," struck another car while driving drunk and left the scene, then later kneed a police officer while demanding to see the police chief, authorities said Tuesday.
He was freed early Tuesday on $2,000 bail on charges of extreme drunken driving and hit and run. He also was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
Campbell, 67, was arrested Monday at his home after a collision at a Phoenix intersection in which nobody was hurt, police Sgt. Randy Force said. A witness had followed the car, called police on a cell phone and directed them to a home in the Biltmore area, Force said.
"Officers contacted the driver of that BMW who was Glen Campbell," he said. "Based on his appearance and demeanor, they believed he was intoxicated and took him into custody."
Breath tests on Campbell showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20, according to court documents. Police are awaiting results of a blood test.
Extreme drunken driving applies when results are above 0.15 percent. The legal limit for drivers in Arizona is 0.08 percent.
He posted bail on the charges of suspicion of extreme drunken driving and hit and run. While being processed at a police station, police said Campbell -- minutes away from being released to waiting friends and family -- became angry and kneed Sgt. Bill Niles in the thigh. Niles was not hurt.
That prompted police to arrest him again, on suspicion of assault. He was taken to jail and appeared in Superior Court just before midnight. A court commissioner, Steve Kupiszewski, placed him on supervised release, requiring him to check in periodically with court monitors, who could test him for alcohol and drugs.
"There was a lot of, 'Do you know who I am. I'm Glen Campbell' ... I shouldn't be locked up like this.' He asked to speak to the chief of police," Niles said.
The other car involved in the collision was driven by Charles Root, 32, a waiter. Root said police took him to a house where he identified a man standing in a yard as the person who hit him. Later, he was told it was the singer.
"It didn't look like him at all. He had on a ball cap and was wearing shorts and a T-shirt," Root told the East Valley Tribune.
Campbell has acknowledged years of heavy drinking and drug use and discussed his decision to quit drinking and drugs in an interview with The Associated Press in August.
"Talk about a tool of the devil. That's one of them ? drugs," Campbell said.
Campbell, who has lived in Arizona for 22 years and has no prior convictions, was hugely successful in the 1960s and early '70s with a string of hits on the pop and country charts, including "Galveston," "Gentle on My Mind," "Wichita Lineman" and the Grammy-winning "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."
He was the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year for 1968 and had his own television show, "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour," from 1969 to 1972. He also was a top session guitarist.
Force said that while in jail, Campbell could be heard
singing "Rhinestone Cowboy."
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At 67 Glen can really whoop it up !
KOD
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