DETROIT (AP) — Former Michigan and NBA player Jalen Rose told authorities he hadn’t been drinking and performed poorly on several tests to determine if he was intoxicated after rolling his Cadillac Escalade on a snowy Michigan road, according to a police report.
The report from the West Bloomfield Township police, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, also said Rose registered a 0.088 blood-alcohol level two hours after the March 11 crash. Michigan’s legal limit is 0.08.
Rose, 38, was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
He was driving the 2004 SUV along Walnut Lake Road when it veered off the roadway about 2:10 a.m. and rolled over just east of Middlebelt, about 20 miles northwest of Detroit. Neither Rose nor his female passenger was hurt in the crash.
When West Bloomfield police arrived at the accident an off-duty Troy police officer was standing with Rose and his passenger.
“While speaking with Jalen, I detected an odor of intoxicants on his breath,” West Bloomfield officer Robert Stephens wrote in the report. “I also noticed that Jalen was swaying while he was standing and his eyes were slightly blood shot.”
Stephens wrote that he asked Rose if he had any alcohol that evening and was told that “he had none and that he does not drink.”
Rose was given several field sobriety tests and had difficulty with each one, Stephens wrote. He had trouble following the horizontal movement of the officer’s finger. Rose also could not keep his balance while listening to instructions on walking and turning.
“Jalen did not touch heel to toe on a few of the steps and made an incorrect turn while walking,” according to the report.
Stephens wrote that Rose could not hold his foot off the ground, planted it and used his arms for balance during a timed 30-second one-leg stand test. Rose also had trouble blowing into an instrument that measures blood-alcohol content.
After he was taken into custody, an in-car police video showed Rose stretched across the rear seat of a patrol car.
“There’s no reason to arrest me,” Rose told the officer. When he was told it was for driving while intoxicated, Rose replied: “For what, sir? But I haven’t been drinking.”
At one point, he asked “what does .08 mean” after being told of the results of his test.
“I don’t think what you’re saying is accurate,” Rose later told the officer.
He was eventually taken to an area hospital where Rose’s blood was drawn for further testing. few hours later, he was released after posting bond. A taxi was called to take him home.
On March 30, Rose issued a statement saying he wasn’t “feeling impaired” when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. He did acknowledge that tests showed his blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit for driving.
A message was left Wednesday afternoon seeking comment from an attorney representing Rose in the case. A court hearing is set for May 25.
Rose was a basketball standout at Detroit Southwestern High School. He also was part of Michigan’s famous Fab Five, which reached the NCAA title game in 1992 and 1993.
He spent 13 years in the NBA, reaching the finals with Indiana in 2000. Rose currently is a basketball analyst for ESPN.
The cable sports network last month premiered a Rose-produced documentary on Michigan’s Fab Five. It aired two nights after Rose’s arrest.
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Associated Press reporter Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
