An Olympic gold-medal-winning track star has been charged with drunken driving on Long Island, authorities said yesterday.
Derrick Adkins tried to impress the trooper who stopped him by pointing out that he lives on a street named after him in West Hempstead.
“Could you check my license and look at the name of the street? I just want to tell you who I am,” said Adkins, who won the 400-meter hurdles at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Police said Adkins was driving a Nissan sedan drifting on the Meadowbrook Parkway at 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 29.
After a trooper smelled alcohol, Adkins, 39, said he had downed two glasses of red wine.
A sobriety test showed Adkins had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit, authorities said.
Details of the arrest emerged after Adkins was arraigned yesterday.
Adkins wrote an inspirational autobiography titled “Let’s All Get High: Inspiration for the X Generation.”