TV role model, Tim Allen, arrested for drunk driving

Bloomfield Township Police Capt. James Anas catered to the curious this week, responding to an onslaught of phone calls about the Saturday night drunk driving arrest of "Home Improvement" star Tim Allen.

Anas admits it's not every day the department books a celebrity for drunk driving. And he understands Allen could be perceived as a role model.

But arresting people for drunk driving is nothing new in Bloomfield Township; five others were arrested for the same reason that same holiday weekend, 105 since the new year.

Drunk driving, he says, is drunk driving, no matter who's behind the wheel. "It's a problem that occurs with people who are unfortunately drinking and driving and he was just one that was caught up and because he has a name that people recognize, people want to attach that much more to it," Anas said.

Allen, whose legal name is Timothy Alan Dick, was arrested at 9:20 p.m., Saturday night on Maple Road, near Cranbrook Road, after township police pulled him over for driving approximately 70 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. area.

According to the police report, the arresting police officer noted that he could smell alcohol on Allen's breath and asked Allen how much he had to drink.

Police said Allen originally responded "nothing." After further questioning, the officer said Allen replied, "Well I had a couple of drinks. I was golfing. . . and then I had a couple of drinks with dinner."

Allen failed four sobriety tests, including saying the alphabet and counting backwards from 87 to 74.

Police also administered a preliminary breath test which ranked Allen at .16 percent, .06 percent above the legal limit. Allen was arrested and given a second breathalyzer test at the station.

Results showed his blood alcohol level to be .15 percent, .05 percent above the legal limit.

Allen, who was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, was released to his attorney on a $100 bond just before midnight the same night.

Allen's attorney, Michael Novak of the Troy law firm Cox, Hodgman & Jiarmarco, would not comment on the arrest but said Allen's arraignment was completed by mail. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

A pretrial hearing is set for 1:30 p.m., June 25, before 48th District Court Judge Edward Avadenka. The charge of Operating Under the Influence of Liquor (OUIL) is a misdemeanor that carries a sentence of a maximum 90 days in jail plus 45 days of community service.

Township police Capt. Reed Altenburg said Allen's celebrity status was not a factor in the case. Police officers are trained to detect drunk driving, noting unusual swerving, slow speeds or erratic driving, Altenburg said, adding Allen was stopped for speeding.

"They get treated the way they act. By all accounts that I heard, he was not a problem...," Altenburg said. "If he got preferential treatment, he wouldn't have gotten arrested."

Michele Compton isn't surprised at all the attention the arrest is getting. The administrator for Oakland County's Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) chapter said celebrity arrests help boost awareness of the dangers of drunk driving but added she thinks society lets too many other drunk driving cases fall to the wayside.

"This is an unfortunate incident and he made a bad decision but there are people that make bad decisions all the time and our society tends to ignore it," she said.

"We seem rather reluctant to put that same kind of pressure behind drunk drivers and until we do that we're going to continue to have 45 fatalities a day in this country and if there can be any positive thing that comes out of this business with Tim Allen, it's that yes because of his celebrity status it does bring attention to this problem."