Sports Agent Issues Apology After Arrest

NEWPORT BEACH — Sports agent Leigh Steinberg, arrested on suspicion of drunk driving over the weekend, issued an apology on Wednesday, saying “role models have to address their failures as well as their achievements.”

Shortly after midnight Saturday, Steinberg’s Mercedes rear-ended another car on West Coast Highway in Newport Beach, where he lives. He was arrested at the scene, given a blood-alcohol test at the police station and released on $1,400 bail.

In a letter to The Times, Steinberg, 47, wrote that he “did not act as a role model should. While attending a charity fund-raiser for a client in Newport Beach, I consumed alcohol and proceeded to drive myself home. I am aware of the dangers of drinking and driving and should have never gotten behind the wheel. Thankfully, no one was injured.”

Steinberg’s high-profile clients include quarterbacks Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys and Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers. He also recently signed gymnast Kerri Strug, one of the biggest names to emerge from the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Steinberg also led a campaign last year to block the move by the Los Angeles Rams from Anaheim to St. Louis.

Results of Steinberg’s blood-alcohol test probably will not be known for weeks, police said. The district attorney’s office will then decide whether to file charges against him. If he is charged, he could be arraigned sometime within the next four weeks, police said.