Leif Garrett - Actor/Singer Plagued
With Drug Abuse Related Problems
In 1979, three days before his 18th birthday, Leif Garrett crashed his car while drunk and on Quaaludes. The accident left his passenger, best friend Roland Winkler, a paraplegic. A guilt-stricken Garrett publicly promised to look after Winkler but, after he failed to do so, Winkler's mother filed a $25 million negligence lawsuit against him. Garrett insisted that he did not have the money and the suit was eventually settled out of court for $7.1 million, leaving the friends completely estranged. Garrett and Winkler remained estranged until he was approached by VH-1 to film a 1999 episode of the television series Behind The Music. The episode featured Garrett's reunion with an apology to Winkler; Winkler forgave Garrett and acknowledged that Garrett's actions following the accident may actually have saved his life.
Despite claiming on 'Behind the Music' not to have used drugs since a 1996 intervention, Garrett was arrested for possession only months after the episode aired. Garrett was arrested again in March 2005 and pled guilty to possession of cocaine. However, he subsequently violated his probation, prompting a judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest in December.
On January 14, 2006, Garrett was arrested on a Metro Red Line subway platform in downtown Los Angeles, California for allegedly not having a ticket
. Heroin was found in his possession and Garrett was held in jail without bail before being sentenced to a live-in drug rehabilitation program. He left the program, believing it to be too strict, and was consequently sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years' probation on May 11, 2006. He was credited with the time served since March 30, when he was placed in custody for failing a drug test.
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