Former Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer arrested for DUI
Richie Farmer, who played for the “unforgettable” 1992 University of Kentucky basketball team, was arrested on Thursday evening in London, Kentucky. Police charged him with driving under the influence, and released him several hours later.
Police had been alerted about Farmer’s reckless driving after he nearly hit a car at an intersection. Then, a city employee started driving behind Farmer, and contacted police after witnessing him driving erratically and crossing over the center dividing line. According to WKYT, when police finally stopped him, his speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, and he failed a field sobriety test. Farmer hadn’t been drinking, but he confessed that he was intoxicated.
Farmer admitted to officers he took two hydrocodone pills, a pain reliever, and two Soma pills, a muscle relaxer.
And he’d apparently taken all of that on an empty stomach.
Farmer is one of the famous “Unforgettables” from the 1992 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team. Under new coach Rick Pitino, Farmer and his associates helped start a revival of men’s basketball at Kentucky. The team, which had previously been banned from the postseason from two years, made it to the regional finals of the 1992 NCAA tournament, and faced Duke in what’s considered to be one of the greatest college basketball games of all time. Kentucky lost in overtime thanks to a last-second shot from Duke’s Christian Laettner, but the team was beloved once they returned home.
This isn’t the first time Farmer has been in trouble with the law. In 2012 he was investigated for misappropriating state resources while he was serving as Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner, a position he held from 2004 until he failed to win re-election in 2012. Farmer was charged with violating 42 state ethics laws, which set a Kentucky record for the most ethics violations ever charged to a single person.
Farmer eventually pled guilty and was sentenced to 27 months in prison and was required to pay $120,500 in restitution to the state. He was released in January 2016 after serving 20 months, and filed for bankruptcy several months later.
Farmer is scheduled to be arraigned on April 2.
Former Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer, who previously served time in prison for misappropriating state funds, is on the wrong side of the law once again.. (AP Photo)
– – – – – –
Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Golfer calls out airline after finding missing clubs for sale
• Book reveals ugly history between Tiger, Bill Clinton
• Engineering students come to rescue of hurt Purdue star
• Spurs players hold ‘tense’ meeting with Kawhi
