<h1 id="storyTitle">Gillispie pleads not guilty to DUI, released from jail</h1><span id="byLine">By Ashlee Clark and Shawntaye Hopkins</span>
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Former University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie pleaded not guilty Thursday to driving under the influence after an early-morning arrest in Lawrenceburg.</p>
This is the third alcohol-related arrest for Gillispie, who was reportedly in Lexington on business.</p>
Gillispie was arrested shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday after he allegedly swerved along a roadway, then fumbled through his white 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-300 in search of proof of his car insurance. The passenger in the car, Charles F. O'Connor, was also arrested for alcohol intoxication in a public place.</p>
According to arrest records, Lawrenceburg police received a complaint about a possible intoxicated driver traveling north on U.S. 127 from the Shell station near the Bluegrass Parkway. The vehicle was identified as a white 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-300 with Texas plates.</p>
A Lawrenceburg police officer clocked the Mercedes at 63 mph in a 45 mph zone near Carlton Drive, according to police records.</p>
The vehicle driven by Gillispie was "weaving badly in its lane and was constantly crossing over the center line and fog line," the police report says.</p>
According to the report, Officer M. Corley tried to stop Gillispie in front of Emma B. Ward Elementary School, 1150 Bypass North. The Mercedes "quickly pulled off in the emergency lane where it continued north for nearly a half mile" before it stopped past the Briarwood subdivision, Corley wrote in his report.</p>
Gillispie told the officer that he had spent the day golfing, police records state.</p>
Crowley's report said Gillispie had red, glassy eyes and slow, slurred speech and "had a strong fruit smell coming from his person (possibly wine)."</p>
Charles F. O'Connor, the passenger in the car, also smelled of alcohol and was "heavily intoxicated, very unsteady on his feet and had slowed, slurred speech," police records said. O'Connor told police he'd had a few glasses of wine, the arrest citation states.</p>
Police asked Gillispie for his proof of insurance, and he said it was in his golf bag in the trunk, according to the court document.</p>
"During the exit, he used the door for balance and was confused on how to open the trunk," the citation states.</p>
The report says Gillispie's insurance information was not in the bag, so he went to the passenger side of the car.</p>
"He was confused about how to unlock the vehicle and took several tries to unlock the glove box," the citation says.</p>
He was still unable to find the proof of insurance, according to the officer's report.</p>
"I asked Billy if he had had any thing to drink tonight, he stated no he had been golfing all day," Corley wrote.</p>
Police said Gillispie refused breath and blood tests.</p>
Gillispie and O'Connor were arrested about 2:45 a.m. Thursday. They were booked into the Franklin County jail about 5:20 a.m., jail officials said.</p>
Hours later, Gillispie, 49, was arraigned via video from the jail, according to the Anderson County circuit clerk's office. O'Connor, 42, was not arraigned Thursday, according to the clerk's office.</p>
Gillispie and O'Connor were released about 9:20 a.m., according to jail officials. They were picked up by Louisville lawyer Darran Winslow, who said he was there to make sure Gillispie "gets back safely and has an uneventful ride home."</p>
Navigating through a crowd of reporters outside the jail, Winslow declined to comment further.</p>
Gillispie is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 5. A court date has not been scheduled for O'Connor.</p>
Gillispie left the UK coaching job in March after two seasons.</p>
At the time, UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said of UK's 22-14 record: "We obviously did not achieve the results we all desired on the floor this season. Those results can occur when you are trying to grow a program. We clearly understand that.</p>
"However, it is as important to represent the Kentucky program and the basketball program, more specifically, in a manner which best utilizes our incredible tradition, assets and platform. ... It is my evaluation that we have not done all we can to manage the entire scope of the program and all that we expect."</p>
In May, Gillispie filed a 24-page lawsuit against the UK Athletics Association in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas that alleges breach of contract over his dismissal. He contends that UK's athletics department owes him $6 million for firing him two years into a seven-year agreement. The university, which filed a countersuit in Kentucky, has argued it does not owe the Texas native because he never signed a formal contract.</p>
Gillispie is in Kentucky to explore the possibility of a settlement in his lawsuit, said Steve Richardson, a free-lance journalist who is working with Gillispie on
The Billy Gillispie Story, a book that will detail the coach's life and coaching career.</p>
But UK spokesman Jimmy Stanton declined to comment on whether university officials or lawyers met with Gillispie in Kentucky this week.</p>
"Our situation with Billy Gillispie is an ongoing legal matter, and as such, we are not in a position to comment," he said.</p>
Demetrios Anaipakos, a Houston-based attorney, is handling the former coach's federal lawsuit.</p>
"Right now, I can't comment on any settlement issues," he said Thursday when reached by phone.</p>
Thursday's arrest was Gillispie's first in Kentucky. He had previously been arrested in 1999 on charges of driving while intoxicated and improper use of a lane in Tulsa, Okla. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving; other charges were dismissed. In 2003, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving while in his first year at the University of Texas-El Paso, but the charges were dismissed after a prosecutor decided there was not enough evidence to suggest Gillispie was drunk.</p>
Gillispie was living in Jessamine County while he was coaching, but the house was sold this summer for $1.2 million. A residence in Graford, Texas, was listed on Gillispie's arrest report.</p> </div>
