October court date set for Vince Neil in DUI case

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, Sept. 27, 2010 | 12:50 p.m.

Heavy-metal rocker Vince Neil, the lead singer of Mötley Crüe, is expected to have his next day in court in October on a drunken driving charge that took place in late June near the Las Vegas Strip.

Neil, whose band has cultivated a hard-partying image and is known for hits likes "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Dr. Feelgood," is expected to fight the misdemeanor charges of DUI and speeding.

Neil did not personally appear in Las Vegas Justice Court early this morning to be arraigned on the charge. But his attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, asked for a delay for two weeks.

Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure set a court date for a status check for setting a trial at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 11 for the 49-year-old songwriter.

Neil, who lives in Las Vegas, owns tattoo shops, a bar called Feelgoods Rock Bar and Grill, and the Vince Neil Tres Rios Cantina at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The charges stem from an incident that took place just before 11 p.m. June 27 near the Strip on Desert Inn Road west of Paradise Road.

After leaving the Las Vegas Hilton in his black 2008 Lamborghini, Neil was pulled over by a Metro Police officer for speeding and weaving between lanes, according to an arrest report.

The report said Neil was paced by an officer while traveling 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. The officer reported Neil had "excessive travel before stopping" after he turned on his lights and siren. He said Neil traveled about one-half to three-fourths of a mile before finally stopping on the shoulder, the report said.

Neil told the officer he had just left the Hilton and was going home. He told the officer he had three glasses of champagne, but didn't know when his last drink had been.

Neil was then given three physical tests to determine if his blood alcohol content was higher than the legal threshold of 0.08.

The report said Neil failed a "Horizonal Gaze Nystagmus" test, which measured how well his eyes followed the officer's finger as it was moved 12 to 15 inches in front of him.

Neil also failed the "Walk-And-Turn" test, where he was supposed to walk nine heel-to-toe steps out, then turn and take nine heel-to-toe steps back. The officer wrote that Neil took three steps, then nine on the second pass and "leaned against police car during instructions."

Neil also failed the "One-Leg Stand" test, which required him to balance on one leg for 30 seconds, the arrest report said. As he was trying to stand on one leg, Neil said "I can't do this," and put his foot down three times, the arrest report said.

After failing those three tests, Neil was then given a breath test, which he took at 12:21 a.m., the report said. The test showed his blood alcohol content readings were 0.215 and 0.216, compared to the legal limit of 0.08, the report said.

Neil was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, but was released the next day on $2,000 bail.

The arrest came about a week after he had said in an interview that he was sober and that there are "other things in life than just drugs and alcohol."

Earlier this month, police were investigating a woman's claim that Neil grabbed her arms in an elevator on Sept. 5 at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel.

Metro spokeswoman Officer Barbara Morgan said police took statements about 10 p.m. Sept. 5 from the woman and two other people on a misdemeanor battery complaint against Neil.

Neil wasn't arrested and the woman wasn't identified.

Neil had another drunken driving charge in 1984, when he crashed a sports car head-on into another car in Redondo Beach, Calif., killing his passenger, Nicholas Dingley, a 24-year-old drummer with the group Hanoi Rocks.

Neil, then 25, wasn't injured. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and drunken driving, served 20 days in jail, and agreed to pay $2.5 million in restitution to victims.

Neil also has had misdemeanor battery charges dismissed at least twice in California and Nevada after performing community service. One stemmed from an accusation that he roughed up a prostitute in 2003 at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch brothel in northern Nevada.