DOCUMENT: Crime

Billy Joel Was Drinking Before Hamptons Crash

View Document

Billy Joel Was Drinking Before Hamptons Crash

Despite Billy Joel's earlier claims that he had not been drinking prior to his recent Hamptons car crash, the singer admitted to police that he had "a glass of champagne" before slamming his Mercedes-Benz into a tree, according to this accident report.

When questioned by a Sag Harbor Police Department detective, the 53-year-old Piano Man said that, "the last thing he remembers is drifting off the roadway and striking a tree," according to the report.

Following the January 25 accident, Joel's spokesperson, Claire Mercuri, denied that the entertainer--who left an alcohol rehab facility last June--was imbibing prior to the crash. "I'm sure his other dinner companions were drinking, but he was not," Mercuri told reporters. "He abstained." (3 pages)