Guitarist Richie Sambora, founding member of the internationally famous rock band Bon Jovi, was arrested by Laguna Beach, California, police officers after he was pulled over for weaving in traffic on Tuesday, March 25. He was taken into custody, gave a blood sample, was charged with suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and was released around 4:00 a.m. the next morning. The 48-year-old guitarist had three female passengers in his Hummer, of whom two were minors (according to People.com, one was his daughter, Ava), when he was stopped. If the results of the blood test show Sambora’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is higher than the legal limit of .08, he may face two additional charges of child endangerment. Laguna Beach officials say that Sambora was very cooperative during the arrest.
Sambora was given notice to appear in court on May 7 for one misdemeanor count of DUI. Sambora placed himself in rehabilitation clinics twice in 2007.
Depending on the results of the BAC tests, which could take a week to process, Sambora could be in a little trouble. There is no indication that the guitarist has ever been in any trouble with the law, so, considering that this is a first offense, he probably will see no jail time. However, he will have to seek counseling of some sort (this has become a given in any alcohol-related incidents), so do not be surprised to hear that Richie Sambora has checked himself into rehab once again. This is simply good strategy and makes it look as though you’re attempting to deal with what could be a problem with drinking (with Sambora, it helps because he has already been to rehab and has publicly admitted he was drinking too much).
After a celebratory birthday weekend for my brother in 1989, this writer fell asleep at the wheel of his brand new Pontiac Fiero, crossed the median and two lanes of opposing traffic on a Maryland interstate, and drove up the embankment for at least 100 yards before stopping the car, pointed now back downhill, in a stone culvert. About a dozen vehicles had stopped, one calling the police, who, after administering a roadside sobriety test, had my car towed and took my to the Garrett County, Maryland, jail.
Unlike Sambora, I had to spend the night and half the next day awaiting my brother and enough money to get me out of jail. Twenty-two hours of incarceration in a small, cold holding cell was enough to make me realize that I did not want to repeat the experience ever. But that was not the end of it.
Charged with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), I appeared in court with my court-appointed lawyer (something Mr. Sambora won’t have to worry about, since he can afford legal counsel) was fined, sentenced to ten days in jail (suspended), and was told to seek counseling. Failure to do so would be looked upon as a violation of my probationary period.
Living in another state, Virginia, I had to search for programs that met the state of Maryland’s requirements. I entered a ten-week alcohol awareness program, a class that attempts to enlighten people of the dangers of alcohol abuse. Part of the program was having to attend six Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
It was those six meetings at a place called “The Ranch”, led by a guy everybody called “Sarge”, in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, that made me realize two things: I was not an alcoholic and I did not want to ever become one. The stories told at those meetings were pathetic and heart-wrenching, literally sobering and sometimes amusing. AA meetings are rudimentary group therapy at its best and its collective nature of offering support, allowing people to not feel so alone in their addiction, allowing people to remain anonymous within the group while still being able to exorcise one’s demons, is why AA is still in existence.
I don’t drink. I stopped. I didn’t stop right away. People rarely do. But I made a decision then not to allow alcohol to control my life and that decision has stood me well. I might have an occasional drink at a party or for New Year’s Eve, maybe a beer at dinner, but when I do, I’m not driving. And it has become the rare occasion indeed when I drink more than one alcoholic beverage.
Some people can do that. There are a lot more who cannot.
Richie Sambora’s story is a little different than mine. The pressures of his daily life are far different. And I have never been to rehab. But I do know that drunk driving is dangerous and that alcohol, when consumed to the point of physical and mental impairment, controls the individual more than the opposite. Sambora’s drinking seems to have a reached a state where it is controlling him. And here’s where Sambora and I are alike: Sambora has a decision to make. Either he allows alcohol to become a controlling force in his life or he acquires a strategy to ensure that it does not.
Richie Sambora may have to undergo more counseling or psychiatric treatment, depending on what the judge has before him in court. If Sambora’s BAC level is below .08, the judge will probably recommend continued therapy of some sort. Perhaps, considering Sambora’s fame, insist that the guitarist produce a few Public Service Announcements warning against the dangers of drinking and driving. But if Sambora’s BAC level is above .08, rest assured the judge will not look to kindly upon the rocker if he simply shows up in court without at least some time in a rehabilitation or therapy clinic. With judges sentencing famous people to lengthy terms in jail (see: Kiefer Sutherland) for drinking and driving, it would not be a far leap of the imagination to think that the judge might even give Sambora jail-time, a hefty fine, a probationary period with mandatory counseling and/or therapy, those PSA’s mentioned earlier, some other forms of community service. And if prosecutors level charges of child endangerment, it could get a whole lot worse for Sambora.
Source:
Associated Press, “Bon Jovi Gutarist Arrested for Drunk Driving,” SMH.com
