Barkley's DUI hearing pushed back to March

Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley was scheduled to appear in Scottsdale City Court Friday afternoon to answer a DUI charge, but the hearing has been pushed back to March 13.

Barkley was arrested after he was stopped in Old Town Scottsdale in the early morning hours of Dec. 31. Police said he had a blood-alcohol content of .149, slightly less than twice the legal limit.

Barkley is taking a leave of absence from his job as a basketball analyst with Turner Sports.

It is unknown when Barkley will return to the booth, being off air for a minimum of several weeks.

The former Phoenix Suns star was stopped about 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 31 by a Gilbert police officer, assigned to the East Valley DUI Task Force, after he went through a stop sign, near 75th Street and Sixth Avenue.

Police said at the time that officers smelled alcohol and administered standard field sobriety tests, then arrested Barkley for driving under the influence, a Class 1 misdemeanor.

According to the Gilbert Police Department's report of the arrest, when asked where he was going, Barkley told police, "I was going to drive around the corner and get" oral sex, with a woman he'd picked up just before being pulled over. Barkley said he had engaged in sex with the woman a week earlier.

The report also said that Barkley asked a civilian member of the police department if he could get out of the DUI by getting their name tattooed on his backside. He initially said it backwards, asking if he could tattoo his name on their backside before laughing and rephrasing.

In a statement to The Associated Press the day of his arrest, Barkley said, "I am disappointed that I put myself in that situation. The Scottsdale police were fantastic. Now it is a legal matter, and I will not comment any further as it is a legal matter."

Barkley played in the NBA for 13 years after he was drafted out of Auburn in 1984. He played for the Suns from 1992 to 1996, sandwiched between stints with the Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets.

Barkley retired in 2000 as one of only four players in NBA history with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

He currently is a basketball commentator for TNT.

Barkley's career was marked by a couple of incidents: in 1993, he declared in a Nike commercial that sports figures should not be considered role models; and in 1991, he was suspended and fined $10,000 by the NBA after spitting at a heckling fan and instead hitting a young girl during a game in New Jersey.