Zach Randolph arrested for DUI, suspended by Clippers
Zach Randolph, Dime #19
Zach Randolph was arrested on suspicion of DUI early Monday morning by the California Highway Patrol, just hours after he put up 18 points and 10 boards in a loss to the Lakers.
According to the L.A. Times, Randolph was spotted weaving “in and out of [a] lane,” in his white Rolls-Royce around 2:30 a.m. The officer who pulled him over smelled alcohol, and Zach was given a field sobriety test before being taken to jail. He was released around 9 a.m., and was at Clippers practice today. The team suspended Randolph for two games. From the Times:
“I regret the situation happened,” Randolph said at Clippers practice today. “I hope people don’t rush to judgment. What I have to do know is focus on basketball and let the process run its course. Let it work itself out.”
Asked whether the incident revealed a larger problem, he said, “I don’t think so. Situations like this happen. It was a bad mistake, a mistake in judgment. It happens all around the league, in every sport. There’s a lot of stuff I can’t comment on right now.”
Now I know everyone is just gonna roll their eyes and make more jokes, but it bothers me to see Zach going through stuff like this because I know he’s not really a bad guy.
As I’ve said here before, Z-Bo is one of my favorite players in the NBA, not so much for his game (which I do appreciate and think he’s underrated), but in large part because he was the subject of my first-ever magazine feature story (Dime #19). I got to know Zach during that process, when I was still far from accustomed to interacting with pro athletes. Keeping in contact with him through the years since then, I’ve seen that while Zach has had some bad influences in his life, he has matured along the way. The fact that he made it through his stint with the Knicks unscathed — I talked to professionals in the industry who seriously thought he’d end up in jail or dead unleashed in New York City — was a great sign of that.
And I’m not saying he hasn’t matured. Odds are this was just a one-time mistake that any of us could have made and not the sign of something bigger. But for somebody with Zach’s reputation, stuff like this doesn’t help at all.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Big Sia says:
gone off that purp?
April 6th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Celts Fan says:
Damn man… Hire a damn driver. Don’t people learn from Dante Stallworth. You make enough $. Hell, make someone in your entourage the DD. I don’t get it…
April 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Ashlov says:
They see me rollin’…
April 6th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Tha Boddy "Agent Zero Still DMV Hero" says:
Didn’t he learn anything from what just happened to Stallworth in the NFL???Drinking and driving in most instances = Death and even though it might not be his fault the alcohol tips the scale out of his favor…All you big time sports players know this “If you Have The Money Get a Driver Dummy”- “Boddy Approved”!!!
April 6th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
MoxWestCoastRep says:
Shocker…
April 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Taj says:
Celts Fan…
I was thinking the same thing… These guys make enough dough to have guys driving them around after the club, or to hold their pistols instead of keeping it in your sweats…
I t seems to make sence!
April 6th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
s.bucketz says:
hes whippin a rolls royce off the knicks money…mufucka
April 6th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Celts Fan says:
Aint even gotta pay for a driver, just tell. one of your boys “stay sober, its yoru job to drive tonight.”. I’m sure dude’s got an entourage (not hating, I would too) make them earn their keep.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
johnsacrimoni says:
Drinking and Driving in most instances=Death?? While I agree drunk driving is a serious problem, let’s not get too carried away here.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Notorious says:
Man, why the hell even have an entourage if you ain’t gonna use them? Sure Z-Bo’s got some boys, like Celts Fan said, assign the duty to someone in the posse. What they gonna do, say no? Yeah right….
And come on, white rolls royce, you just beggin for the cops to pull you over at that time of night. Bad enough you black and rich, you start swerving around and you might as well drive right to jail.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
smoove chips says:
a bum is a bum is a bum no matter what kinda cheese he/she runs into.they just make the papers quicker if they got real cheese..