Heather Locklear Officially Charged With DUI

Mon, 17 November 2008 22:58:30 ET

Heather Locklear has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs related to her September 27 arrest.

Heather Locklear has been officially charged with driving under the influence of drugs related to her September 27 arrest. Santa Barbara, California District Attorney's office broke the news on Monday, November 17, citing prescription medications. The actress will have an arraignment set for her on January 26, 2009 in Santa Barbara Superior Court. If the actress proved guilty, she will face penalties ranging from a fine to up to six months in county jail.

Testifying the actress' misdemeanor charge file, Senior Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter confirmed, "We believe that the prescriptions she was taking could have impaired her ability to drive a motor vehicle safely." Refusing to mention what medications or the amounts Heather had taken, Lee also added, "Lab tests showed she had no alcohol in her system and no illegal narcotics of any kind."

Lee also revealed that Heather formerly was booked on charges of driving under the influence of drugs and being under the influence of a controlled substance. However, latter charge was not filed because there were no illegal substances in her system. Because of that, Heather was not charged for felony file, as Lee asserted, "Because DUI cases with no injuries are always misdemeanors."

The former "Melrose Place" star's incident happened on September 27 when her parked car blocked a freeway traffic lane in Montecito, California. She was arrested on the same day after a paparazzo eyewitness named Jill Ishkanian called 911, saying that Heather was "driving erratically". The opportunistic journalist documented the incident with her camera and sold the photos of the arrest to TMZ.com for a reported 27,500 dollars. Reached by phone, Locklear's attorney and publicist both declined comment on Heather arrest.

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