By
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES
Roger Clinton, the younger half-brother of former President Clinton, was arrested for investigation of drunken driving, police said yesterday.
Clinton, 44, was arrested early Saturday after a police officer spotted him driving erratically through this oceanside town 18 miles south of Los Angeles, Officer Paul Wolcott said.
The former president pardoned his half-brother less than a month ago, wiping out Roger Clinton's criminal record resulting from a 1985 guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to sell a single gram of cocaine for which he served more than a year in prison.
Bill Clinton later described the drug prosecution as "the best thing that ever happened'' to his brother.
An officer saw Clinton's Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle hit a curb while making a right-hand turn, stop beyond the limit at two stop signs and straddle the center dividing line, Wolcott alleged.
After several blocks, the officer stopped Clinton at 2:26 a.m. and smelled alcohol on his breath, Wolcott said.
Clinton failed a balance and coordination test and was taken to the city jail for a breath test, police said. His blood-alcohol level met or exceeded .08 percent, the legal limit, but police did not immediately release a specific figure.
"There was no resistance," Wolcott said of the arrest. "He only indicated that he had been drinking at one of the bars."
An unidentified male passenger in Clinton's car was not arrested, Wolcott said.
Clinton, who lives in nearby Torrance, was released Saturday morning on his own recognizance. He was not required to post bail.
''It was very standard procedure. He was treated as anyone would be treated. He was cooperative. He had a local address, there was no reason for us to believe he won't show up in court. It was a misdemeanor,'' Wolcott said.
Clinton was scheduled for arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court on April 2.
In 1998, a jury ordered Clinton to pay a then-neighbor in Redondo Beach $1,258.10 for medical bills, one week's lost wages and unspecified damages after Clinton's dog attacked the other man's dog.
In his 1995 book, ''Growing Up Clinton,'' Roger Clinton recounted his troubled life, including the physical abuse that he, his brother and late mother suffered at the hands of their alcoholic father, as well as his own addictions to alcohol and cocaine.
''I have a walk-in closet full of skeletons,'' Clinton said during an appearance in Washington, D.C. to promote the book.
