dodgersfan
05-14-2009, 04:04 PM
<H2>Police: Leyritz threatened suicide
Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz, who is awaiting trial in Florida on DUI manslaughter charges, phoned a friend in New Jersey this week threatening suicide, according to police.
Media reports out of New York and Florida said the 45-year-old Leyritz voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric ward at a Hollywood, Fla., hospital Wednesday night after being brought there by Davie police.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Davie Police Lt. Bill Coyne said Leyritz became upset when a court-ordered monitoring device installed in his car to monitor his blood alcohol content prevented the car from starting.
Leyritz's ex-wife, Karri, told the New York Daily News that he was not drinking Wednesday.
After taking a call from a distraught Leyritz, the New Jersey friend placed a 911 call to Davie police.
In December 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, authorities say Leyritz was drunk when he ran a red light and crashed into another car, killing Fredia Ann Veitch.
Leyritz, who played for six teams and was last in the majors in 2000, was jailed in February after the device in his car recorded that he consumed alcohol four times since it was installed in April 2008. A Broward County judge said after the device was installed, Leyritz thought he was allowed to consume alcohol.
His attorney, David Bogenschutz, would "neither confirm nor deny" for the Daily News that his client had been admitted to a hospital.
</H2>
Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz, who is awaiting trial in Florida on DUI manslaughter charges, phoned a friend in New Jersey this week threatening suicide, according to police.
Media reports out of New York and Florida said the 45-year-old Leyritz voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric ward at a Hollywood, Fla., hospital Wednesday night after being brought there by Davie police.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Davie Police Lt. Bill Coyne said Leyritz became upset when a court-ordered monitoring device installed in his car to monitor his blood alcohol content prevented the car from starting.
Leyritz's ex-wife, Karri, told the New York Daily News that he was not drinking Wednesday.
After taking a call from a distraught Leyritz, the New Jersey friend placed a 911 call to Davie police.
In December 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, authorities say Leyritz was drunk when he ran a red light and crashed into another car, killing Fredia Ann Veitch.
Leyritz, who played for six teams and was last in the majors in 2000, was jailed in February after the device in his car recorded that he consumed alcohol four times since it was installed in April 2008. A Broward County judge said after the device was installed, Leyritz thought he was allowed to consume alcohol.
His attorney, David Bogenschutz, would "neither confirm nor deny" for the Daily News that his client had been admitted to a hospital.
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