Obama uncle arrested for negligent driving

News
United States President Barack Ob-ama’s uncle has been arrested on suspicion of dri-nking and driving, authorities have said.

Onyango Obama (pictured right) (67) said he would call the White House to arrange bail, after being stopped last week in the US state of Massachusetts, says a police report.

A half-brother of the president’s late father, he is being held without bail, subject to an immigration order. Police said the Kenya native was arrested after driving through a stop sign and nearly hitting a police car.

Obama was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way. He pleaded not guilty over the incident in the town of Framingham, about 32km outside the city of Boston.

Framingham police officer Val Krishtal said in a written report that when stopped Onyango Obama was slurring his speech and argumentative. “I explained to him that I narrowly avoided striking his vehicle, and he told me that he did not hear my tyres screeching so I was not being accurate,” Krishtal wrote in the report.

According to the report, when taken to a police station and asked whether he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange bail, Obama said: “I think I will call the White House.”

Krishtal said Obama had failed several breathalyser tests. In a court document, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had previously made Onyango Obama the subject of a deportation order. —BBC News