A relative of President Barack Obama was arrested last week outside Boston on charges of drunk driving, an official said on Monday.
Onyango Obama (67) of Framingham, Massachusetts, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, failure to yield at an intersection and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, said Cara O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
Onyango Obama is a half-brother of President Obama’s Kenyan father, an administration official confirmed.
Onyango Obama pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Framingham District Court and was released on personal recognisance, O’Brien said, but he was being held on a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer.
He hired Ohio immigration attorney Margaret Wong, said Wong spokesperson Mike Rogers.
Rogers said Onyango Obama was released from a Massachusetts jail on Monday and was being supervised at an undisclosed location until reporting back to immigration officials on Tuesday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington had no immediate comment on the report.
Police said that when asked if he wanted to make a phone call, Obama said: “I think I will call the White House.”
Wong is the same lawyer used by Onyango Obama’s younger sister, Zeituni Onyango, who was granted asylum last year by a Boston judge, putting the Kenyan woman on the path to US citizenship. – Reuters, Sapa-AP