Local News in Brief : Ryan O’Neal’s Son Enters Innocent Plea
The son of actor Ryan O’Neal pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of drunken driving and driving with a suspended license, stemming from his arrest last month in Van Nuys.
Griffin Patrick O’Neal, 24, of Beverly Hills was arrested by Los Angeles police shortly after midnight Oct. 2 as he drove erratically eastbound on Roscoe Boulevard near Woodman Avenue.
He was charged with one count each of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.10 or above and driving with a suspended driver’s license, Deputy City Atty. Nicholas Fratianne said.
O’Neal’s attorney, Maynard Davis of West Los Angeles, entered a plea of not guilty to the charges on behalf of O’Neal, whom Davis said is in South Africa acting in a movie.
Van Nuys Municipal Commissioner John Gunn set trial for Jan. 11.
O’Neal last year was sentenced to serve 416 hours of community service for his part in the Memorial Day, 1986, boating death in Maryland of the son of film director Francis Ford Coppola.
Gian Carlo Coppola, 23, of Los Angeles died of head injuries he suffered when a speeding motorboat driven by O’Neal struck a tow line stretched between two other craft on a river near Annapolis, Md.
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