On June 23, 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers guard Tarence Kinsey Jr. was arrested for driving under the influence and taken to the Orient Road jail, where his bail was set at $500, Tampa DUI lawyer John Musca has learned. Kinsey was later released on his own recognizance. Kinsey is a Tampa native who graduated Jefferson High School as a high school basketball standout. After high school Kinsey played for the University of South Carolina, helping the Gamecocks win the NIT championship game with a clutch three point shot with one second remaining. Kinsey began his professional basketball career with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2005. In 2007, he played professionally in Turkey for a season before signing a contract with Cleveland last year as a free agent. Kinsey has not played regularly with the Cavaliers, however; the Cavaliers have used him primarily as a reserve player when other players are injured. Kinsey has averaged two points per game and has played in 50 games for the Cavaliers this season. The team appears to be concerned about the incident and released a public statement shortly after the arrest., saying, "We take matters like this very seriously. We will speak with Tarence and continue to handle this internally while the judicial process takes its course."
The police report from the incident states that Kinsey's Bentley was observed drifting in and out of his lane and driving 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone while heading north on Howard Avenue toward Interstate 275 at around 3:30 A.M. The arresting officer noted that Kinsey had red, bloodshot eyes, was unsteady and had the odor of alcohol on his breath. The officer asked Kinsey to perform several field sobriety tests and arrested him for DUI after determining he was unsuccessful. Kinsey then refused to take a breathalyzer test at Central Breath Testing.
The original report is available here.
