Pop star George Michael insists he was “stone cold sober” when his Land Rover collided with a truck on Firday
The Faith hitmaker was arrested and questioned after his Land Rover car collided with a truck near Reading in the early hours of Friday morning. George Michael confirmed the incident Saturday but said in a statement he had been “stone cold sober.”
“Neither of us was charged because we were both stone cold sober. We both think the other is to blame so this is just an insurance fight,” George Michael said, referring to the lorry driver.
Michael says he didn’t want his fans or family “worried by what they are reading.”
The former star of 1980s pop band Wham was held in the early hours of Friday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink and drugs, but was released without charge after five hours, the BBC reported.
Police confirmed a man had been taken to the Lodden Valley police station near Reading in southeast England Friday.
“Officers were called at 1:00 am on August 14 to a collision on the southbound carriageway of the A34, approximately two miles north of the M4,” a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said.
“It was between a silver Land Rover and an articulated lorry. The driver of the Land Rover, a 46-year-old man, was arrested at the scene.
“He was taken to Lodden Valley police station where he was questioned and released at 5.55am.”
According to the truck owner Laurie Rowe, Michael had been completely disoriented and had no idea what was going on. He even tried to climb into the cab of Rowe’s lorry and said something about being afraid to go to jail. Rowe said the impact was so violent and Michael hit them so hard that he “didn’t think he would have survived.”
The incident came just weeks after authorities handed the singer back his license in June, 2009. He was banned from driving for two years in 2007 when he was twice found slumped behind the wheel of his parked car in London. During the subsequent court case in June, 2007, Michael admitted he had been driving “while unfit”, claiming that he was guilty due to “tiredness and prescribed drugs”.
