An attorney for “Love Story” actor Ryan O’Neal has denied
allegations of drug use against his client, telling The Associated Press that
O’Neal would “never use them.”
Ryan O’Neal, 67, and son Redmond, 23, were arrested
Wednesday in their Malibu, Calif. home on suspicion of drug possession.
Police officers were performing a routine sweep checking to
see whether Redmond O’Neal, who is on three years’ probation after pleading
guilty in June to driving under the influence and possession of heroin and
amphetamine, was respecting his sentence.
He apparently was not, as deputies found him to be in
possession of narcotics. They also found a vial in Ryan O’Neal’s bedroom, which
they believed to contain methamphetamine.
The two men were taken to a local sheriff’s station and
released around noon after posting $10,000 bail each.
The double arrest generated much media coverage as the
public recalled the many troubles of the O’Neal family.
Former star child Tatum O’Neal’s arrest in July as she tried
to buy cocaine in New York
from a dealer.
The grim incident last year when Ryan O’Neal and his son Griffin got into a brawl at the same Malibu home and the father was arrested for
allegedly assaulting the son, charged with assault with a deadly weapon and
negligent discharge of a firearm and released on $50,000 bond.
And that even grimmer story where Griffin, who like his siblings has struggled
with drug abuse, was involved in a boating accident in the 1980s which led to
the death of Francis Ford Coppola’s son Gian-Carlo Coppola.
An attorney for Ryan O’Neal has come forward with statements
that assuage the tragicalness of Wednesday’s arrest. Mark Werksman told The
Associated Press on Thursday, “The drugs found were not his. He would never use
them.”
Werksman added that his client was “shaken up” by the
arrests, especially since he has “tried to leave a peaceful life.” The attorney
further said O’Neal is “acting and he’s caring for his family and this is the
last thing he ever wanted or expected.”
While not referring to the arrest of Redmond, Werksman emphasized, “We know that
when all the facts come out, he [Ryan] should not be charged with any crime
here.”
Formal charges have not been filed yet against the two men.
Ryan O’Neal is best known for portraying Oliver Barrett IV
in the 1970 film adaptation of Erich Segal’s novel “Love Story,” a performance
which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Redmond
is his son with actress Farrah Fawcett.
