Pistons Star Ben Wallace Arrested for Drunken Driving, Concealed Weapon

Detroit Pistons Center Ben Wallace is to face one of the area's toughest judges when it comes to drunken driving offenses next week in 48th District Court.

Wallace will appear before District Judge Kimberly Small for a preliminary exam conference on counts of operating while intoxicated and carrying a concealed weapon on Oct. 3, court records show.

The 37-year-old NBA veteran was arrested Saturday by Bloomfield Township police who pulled his 2007 Cadillac Escalade over for erratic driving in the area of Telegraph and Long Lake roads at about 3 a.m., a news release stated. The officers determined Wallace was intoxicated during their roadside investigation and arrested him without incident.

They searched the vehicle and found an unloaded pistol in a backpack in the passenger compartment, the release stated.

Small was one of the few district court judges in the country to regularly sentence first-time drunken drivers to jail, a survey by the Detroit Free Press in July showed. She proved it when she sentenced former NBA and University of Michigan star Jalen Rose to 20 days in the Oakland County Jail in August following his arrest in West Bloomfield.

If convicted, Wallace, a former All Star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year, faces up to 93 days in jail on the driving offense, and up to five years in prison on the weapons charge, police said.

He was released on $5,000 bond to a family member following arraignment Saturday, police said.