Kings Assistant Coach Mario Elie Arrested on DUI Charge

DUI seems to have become the en vogue thing in the Kings’ organization in the last few years. The Sac Bee has the details: “The 47-year-old Elie, a three-time NBA champion as a player, was arrested at 1:15 a.m. after a CHP officer stopped him because of a broken taillight on his 1993 Mercedes-Benz. He was booked into the Sacramento County jail and later released. Talk about a losing streak: Elie is the fifth King – including one of the team owners and a head coach – accused of drunken driving since 2006. The Kings have put a program in place offering free rides to players and coaches who call for help, and try to educate the team about the perils of drinking and driving. Elie issued a statement saying such an incident would not happen again and he vowed to ‘take full responsibility for my actions. I had been out and had a couple of drinks,’ Elie said in his statement. ‘My blood alcohol level was slightly over the legal limit. I’m very sorry, embarrassed and disappointed for the position in which I put myself and team.’ Kings president Geoff Petrie issued his own statement saying he was ‘concerned and disappointed.’ He alluded to the mounting number of Kings who have faced DUI charges. ‘This is an ugly form of history repeating itself,’ he said.”