Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue - Steve McCroskey as played by Lloyd Bridges in Airplane.
C.S.I. actor Gary Dourdan (real name: Robert Gary Durdin) ran afoul of the law early Monday morning on a Palm Springs street. The 41-year-old actor apparently had pulled his vehicle over onto the wrong side of Sunny Dunes Road west off of Gene Autry Trail and was discovered asleep in the driver's seat around 5:15 a.m.
A Palm Springs patrol officer approached the sleeping Dourdan, followed the evidence, and discovered a veritable cache of drugs in the actor's vehicle. Palm Springs authorities have stated that Dourdan had Ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, and unnamed prescription drugs in the vehicle.
Dourdan had spent the weekend at the 2008 Coachella Music Festival at the Empire Polo Field in nearby Indio. Coachella headliners this year included Prince, Aphex Twin, and former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. The three-day music festival has a reputation as a bit of a drug haven. (Of course, that does not mean everyone who attends is on drugs – for you sensitive types out there).
Dourdan's month of April has been less than spectacular. On April 14, the 8 ½ year veteran of the hit television series announced he would not return for his ninth season. No clear indication was given as to why the actor decided not to renew his contract. Ironically, his character on the show, Warrick Brown, has recently turned to drugs and alcohol, in essence, possibly paving the way for the actor's exit from the series on the season finale on May 15.
There was some discussion that Dourdan's unceremonious exit from C.S.I. was a direct result of his out-of-control behavior. According to TV Guide, an alleged source inside CBS claims that Dourdan's release from the show is a result of an "ongoing problem personal to Dourdan."
TV Guide reported that "in 2005, Dourdan pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and was ordered to stay away from then-girlfriend, Anne Greene, and attend domestic-violence counseling." Greene claimed Dourdan raped her, however, he denied the accusation and has never charged with sexual assault. Dourdan was also ordered to stay a minimum of 100 yards away from Greene and could not "annoy, harass, strike, threaten, sexually assault, batter, stalk, [or] destroy personal property" that belonged to her.
In March 2006, Dourdan filed a $4 million lawsuit against Greene for stalking, slander, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In the lawsuit, Dourdan contended Greene was a "Fatal Attraction stalker" who was obsessed with him and determined to ruin his career and reputation.
Dourdan followed that up with a videotaped assault of a TMZ photographer in July 2007. CBS went out of its way to let the press know that Dourdan would not be fired for the double attacks that were caught on videotape.
Regardless, if CBS did not fire him, Monday's arrest would not have done Dourdan any favors.
According to the Sunday Mirror, Dourdan grew up as a troubled kid who experienced pain at an early age. When he was a young boy his older brother Daryl was murdered when he was pushed off a balcony at a hotel in Haiti while on vacation.
Once Dourdan grew up to be a teenager, he hit a serious rebellious streak that included drug and alcohol abuse and aimless drifting across the country.
Dourdan claimed he turned his life around when he was held up at gunpoint by a "guy…on drugs, so I gave him what he wanted - $30 and some jewelery.
"After that incident all I could think about was how either I was going to turn out like that, or what having another son killed would have done to my parents," Dourdan recalled.
Hopefully, Dourdan's arrest Monday will be a wake-up call and his perceptive insight will not become a reality.
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