Glen Campbell Arrested
Glen Campbell was released this morning from a Phoenix jail after
being arrested yesterday on suspicion of drunk driving, aggravated
assault on a police officer and for a hit and run.
The country-pop legend was arrested at his home after a witness
said Campbell fled the scene of a two-car collision in his adopted
hometown. Campbell’s BMW struck a Toyota Camry at an intersection
on Monday afternoon, and the witness followed the car and alerted
authorities who arrived at Campbell’s home. Police booked the
singer, 67, on suspicion of “extreme” drunken driving; authorities
are unable to divulge the results of blood-alcohol tests, but the
term is used for results above .15 (the legal limit in Arizona is
.08). As Campbell was being processed at police headquarters, he
allegedly kneed a sergeant in the leg.
Campbell appeared before Commissioner Steve Kupiszewski and was
put on supervised release, which could require alcohol and drug
tests of him. Campbell had battled alcohol and drug dependency
earlier in his career, but his move to Phoenix more than two
decades ago signaled a sober change of direction for him. “It
caused a lot of havoc in my life,” he told Mojo in August
of a late-Seventies period of cocaine and alcohol abuse. “I write
it off to experience; I got on with my life. It was a terrible
time.”
Campbell’s career is among the most varied and distinguished in
pop music. In the Sixties, the Arkansas-born Campbell was among the
most in-demand session guitarists in pop, working with artists
including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, the Beach Boys and the
Monkees, and as a member of Phil Spector’s legendary studio
ensemble the Wrecking Crew. His symphonic brand of country-pop and
a television variety show made him a huge star in the Seventies.
Earlier this fall, Capitol Records released a career-spanning,
four-CD Campbell box set, Legacy 1961-2002.