UPDATE. Ex-tennis legend Ilie Nastase caught drunk driving in Bucharest, faces criminal charges

The former tennis player Ilie Nastase was caught twice in Bucharest on Friday by Romania’s traffic police breaking the traffic regulations in less than six hours. The first time it happened early in the morning, at 4:45, when he was caught drink driving by the traffic police, and the second time before noon, after leaving an emergency hospital driving a scooter.

“At around 4:45 pm on North Road, the Embassy of China, the Road Brigade officers stopped a 72-year-old driver for control, as he was in a state of intoxication, and was asked to either tested with the alcohol test, when he became recalcitrant, addressed the police officers, for which reason he was handcuffed and headed to INML’s headquarters for the collection of biological samples,” said the press release of the Road Brigade.

According to the Police, the man identified as Ilie Nastase refused to take biological samples and was taken to the headquarters of the Road Brigade, where a criminal case was filed for driving a vehicle under the influence of alcoholic beverages and refusing to take biological samples. IlieNastase was found with a alcohol concentration of 0.5 units per thousands.

Ilie Nastase accused the Police officers of misconduct and declared that people that are ’former
parliamentary and army generals’ should not be treated like that. He also said that he will sue the Police and ask for RON 2 to 3 million for damages.

After the second breaking of the road law Nastase was taken by the law people and led back to the police station. The police officers are to file a new criminal file.

Update:

The Police officials explained in a press conference that at the moment of the first incident, Ilie Nastase was stopped for a regular check on North Road. After the initial discussions with the policeman, the driver took off with the car without the permission of the police so it has started a chase, in which it was asked the help of other traffic policeman. After around 200 meters the vehicle was stopped and Nastase was forced out of the car and handcuffed. The cops asked for an alcohol testing but after the refusal of the driver they went to the Legal Medicine Institute. There, Nastase accepted the test, resulting that he had 0.55 units of alcohol per liter of exhaled air. The police opened a criminal case due to the refusal to give biological samples as asked at the place of the incident. The driver was also tested for drugs and the tests came out negative.

The second incident was started by the fact that Nastase’s scooter took a left turn over the continuous line of the street, starting a new criminal case, then it was found that he didn’t have the right category on the license driver for the respective vehicle and also it was suspended after the first incident. The Police stated that there is video footage for the incident, but it will not be made public at this moment due to the ongoing investigation.