(Reuters) – Former teenage idol David Cassidy of 1970s U.S. television series “The Partridge Family” was arrested and charged with felony drunken driving on Wednesday, authorities said.
Cassidy, 63, was stopped shortly after midnight in Schodack, N.Y., about 15 miles south of state capital Albany, when he failed to turn off his car’s high-beam headlights against oncoming traffic, said Schodack Police Chief Bernhard Peter.
“That’s fairly typical behavior of someone who’s been drinking,” Peter said.
Cassidy, who shot to stardom as an actor and singer in the early 1970s, failed a field sobriety test and was booked at Rensselaer County Jail for driving while intoxicated, authorities said. His blood-alcohol concentration was 0.1, above the state’s limit of .08, they said.
He was held on $2,500 bail, which he later posted.
Cassidy was arrested in 2010 in Florida, where he has a home, on suspicion of drunken driving. Authorities said his misdemeanor conviction in that case led to Wednesday’s felony charge. If found guilty, he could face up to four years in prison.
A message left with Cassidy’s publicist seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Cassidy’s shag haircut and baby-faced looks made him a worldwide teenage heartthrob in the 1970s, with hits like “Cherish” and “I Think I Love You” during the run of the “The Partridge Family,” about a family of pop singers.
Since then he has appeared on Broadway, in U.S. stage shows and in films.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Xavier Briand)
