Head Of New York City Ballet Charged With DWI
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) -- The head of the New York City Ballet has been charged with driving while intoxicated.
Ballet Master Peter Martins, 64, was stopped at a DWI checkpoint in Yonkers around 2 a.m. on New Year's Day.
Westchester County police issued a mug shot showing Martins after his arrest.
Spokesman Kieran O'Leary said Martins, of Irvington, failed a field sobriety test and refused three times to take a breath test. Martins also was issued two traffic tickets because his car, a two-door 2005 Bentley, drifted out of its lane twice while he was in the slow-moving line at the checkpoint, O'Leary said.
"He hit the curb on one side of the shoulder and was weaving out of the lane on the other side," he said.
Martins is due in Yonkers City Court on the DWI charge on Jan. 18. His car was impounded but has since been returned, O'Leary said.
The ballet master issued a statement through a spokesman, saying it was a legal matter and he had been advised not to discuss it.
Martins joined the company as a principal dancer in 1970. He assumed sole directorship in 1989.
The police stop was made on the northbound Saw Mill River Parkway, a few miles south of Irvington.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
