Rodman Posts Bail, Is Freed

Dennis Rodman, the flamboyant former NBA star, posted $2,500 bail and was freed Thursday after being arrested the night before on suspicion of drinking and driving, Costa Mesa police said.

Rodman, 38, was arrested while leaving a restaurant at South Coast Plaza. Patrons at the Clubhouse, where Rodman ate dinner, complained about Rodman’s behavior, and restaurant employees called mall security, Sgt. Don Holford said.

Security guards then called police, who stopped Rodman in his Bentley as he was leaving the mall parking lot. He failed a sobriety test and was arrested, Holford said.

“The case will be handed over to the district attorney’s office when the blood-alcohol tests come back,” Holford said, adding that results will not be available until next week.

Rodman attorney Paul S. Meyer said Thursday: “I think it is too early to make a statement.”

Details on Rodman’s behavior inside the restaurant or what specifically prompted mall guards to call police were not available. The mall’s director of security did not return calls requesting comment, and Clubhouse managers and employees declined to be interviewed.

The incident was a reminder to some that restaurants and bars have a “moral responsibility” to report possible drinking and driving.

“There is no law that requires reporting” to authorities, said Carl DeWing, a spokesman for the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission. “But we certainly encourage it.”

Holford said his department receives many tips from citizens regarding drivers who may be intoxicated, but they are mostly from other drivers. Local restaurant managers said they usually do not call police if they suspect a patron is intoxicated.

“What we try to do is work on a customer’s behalf and reason with them,” said Ralph Furra, manager at Woody’s Wharf in Newport Beach. “If we feel someone had too much to drink, we simply refuse to give them their car keys and call them a cab.”

The Rodman incident was the third time in four months that the former Laker has been in trouble with the law. In August, Newport Beach police arrested him at Woody’s Wharf after an altercation with another customer. Charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. In November, Rodman and wife Carmen Electra were charged in Miami with misdemeanor battery after the couple had a fight, but those charges also were dropped.

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Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.