Anastasio Charged With Drugged Driving

The Associated Press
Saturday, December 16, 2006; 6:12 AM

WHITEHALL, N.Y. -- Guitarist Trey Anastasio was accused of driving under the influence of drugs in an upstate New York town near the Vermont border early Friday.

The former Phish frontman was pulled over by an officer who saw his car failing to keep to right side of the road at about 3:30 a.m., Whitehall village police said.


This photo made available by the Whitehall Police dept., shows former Phish frontman guitarist Ernest J. Anastasio, who was arrested early Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, and charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated-drugs, police in Whitehall, N.Y. said. (AP Photo/Whitehall Police)
This photo made available by the Whitehall Police dept., shows former Phish frontman guitarist Ernest J. Anastasio, who was arrested early Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, and charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated-drugs, police in Whitehall, N.Y. said. (AP Photo/Whitehall Police) (AP)

A search turned up quantities of the painkillers hydrocodone and Percocet, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, that had been prescribed for someone else, police said.

Anastasio, who was driving with a suspended New York license, was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated-drugs, police said. He was released and scheduled for a court appearance at a later date.

"I feel terrible about what happened last night, and I am deeply sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my friends, family and fans," Anastasio said in a written statement.

Anastasio lives in Vermont and has been performing solo since Phish broke up in 2004.


© 2006 The Associated Press