Roger Clinton Is Arrested on DUI Charge

Roger Clinton, half-brother of former President Bill Clinton, was arrested in Hermosa Beach on suspicion of drunken driving, police said Sunday.

Clinton, who was pardoned by his older sibling last month for a 1985 drug conviction, was arrested about 2:26 a.m. Saturday in downtown Hermosa Beach after he was spotted driving a Ford Expedition erratically, said Officer Paul Wolcott, the city’s police spokesman. The traffic officer accused Clinton of failing to signal when turning, not stopping properly at two stop signs and straddling a center dividing line, Wolcott said.

The 44-year-old Clinton, who lives in Torrance, had apparently just left a Hermosa Beach bar and smelled of alcohol, Wolcott said. After failing field sobriety tests, Clinton was taken to the city jail for a breath test, Wolcott said. He would not reveal Clinton’s blood alcohol level, but said it met or exceeded the 0.08% legal limit.

An unidentified male passenger with Clinton was not arrested, Wolcott said.

Clinton was released on his own recognizance a few hours later, and is scheduled to appear at South Bay Superior Court on April 2.

He could not be reached for comment.

Roger Clinton’s Jan. 20 pardon is one of many made by his brother in the waning hours of his term. The pardon, among 47 that skirted normal Justice Department review, is being investigated by Congress.

Roger Clinton was pardoned for a 1985 conviction in which he pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute a single gram of cocaine. He served more than a year in prison.

More recently, a jury in 1998 ordered Clinton to pay a then-neighbor in Redondo Beach $1,258 for medical bills, a week’s lost wages and unspecified damages after his dog attacked the other man’s Rottweiler.

Bill and Roger Clinton are half-brothers. Bill Clinton’s biological father died shortly before he was born. His mother, Virginia, married Roger Clinton Sr. when the former president was a toddler.

The younger Clinton, a singer and B-movie actor, moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991. He started a band, which became a warmup act for many television tapings in Hollywood.