Entertainment Tonight Online reports on the arrest of Heather Locklear’s boyfriend for DUI shortly after the star’s arrest for domestic abuse.
Chris Heissler, the partner of television celebrity Heather Locklear, was arrested for DUI last Monday.
Heissler’s arrest came just a few hours after the former star of Melrose Place’s arrest for domestic violence and battery of three police officers.
At just after midnight, California Highway Patrol officers in the Moorpark area witnessed Heissler in a Mercedes driving well below the speed limit. Officers pulled Heissler over to assess his wellbeing.
Officers performed a standard field sobriety test and also had Heissler perform two breathalyzer tests. Each time, Heissler’s BAC was .19%, well over twice the legal limit.
Heissler was cited and then released. He is expected to appear in court on the charges on April 26.
If you have ever wondered how .08% became the legal limit for blood-alcohol content in most states, it happened much like raising the legal drinking age to 21. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended this limit as the threshold where driving becomes significantly impaired. If states did not limit the per se laws to this level by 2004, they would lose a portion of their federal highway construction funds. This law was passed by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by President Clinton in 2001.
By May 2001, forty-nine states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, had enacted the .08% per se laws. Massachusetts was the only exception. California had .08% per se laws dating back to 1990.