Schodack

When "The Partridge Family" star David Cassidy jokingly asked town patrolman Tom Jones "What's new, pussycat?" at a traffic stop Wednesday, Jones, a young rookie, had no idea what he was talking about.

"I did not know who he was or what he meant by that," Jones said Wednesday as he recalled stopping the '70s teen heartthrob just after midnight.

Cassidy, 63, did not dim his headlights when approaching Jones' patrol car on Columbia Turnpike.

"He was very polite and courteous and joking around despite the situation," Jones said.

Cassidy's boyish face was on magazine covers, lunchboxes and millions of record albums before Jones was born. Jones also was unaware of his namesake, the Welsh pop star who had a hit with the song "What's New Pussycat?"

Cassidy was charged with felony driving while intoxicated, showing a 0.10 percent blood alcohol content, at 12:08 a.m. He was released from the Rensselaer County Jail about 3 a.m. on $2,500 bail, District Attorney Richard McNally said.

Cassidy is a regular at Saratoga Race Course and spends parts of the summer in the Capital Region. According to the police report, he lives on South Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale and listed his occupation as a working artist and entertainer.

Police Chief Bernhardt Peter said Cassidy arrived at the Albany International Airport on a flight from Las Vegas and was driving a Volvo S60 rental car with his fiancee to visit her friends in North Chatham.

"They apparently took a wrong turn somewhere," Peter said.

In a deposition on file with police, Jones said Cassidy was westbound on Columbia Turnpike when the part-time officer did a U-turn and pulled him over.

"The officer observed an odor of alcoholic beverage, suspect showed slurred speech, impaired motor coordination and bloodshot, watery eyes," Jones wrote in the report.

Cassidy failed a routine roadside sobriety test, Jones said.

In February 2011, Cassidy was ordered to serve a year probation and had his license suspended for six months after pleading no contest in Florida to a charge of driving under the influence.

He was ordered to attend a school for drunken drivers, fined $500 and ordered to serve 50 hours of community service.

Because that was his first DWI arrest, Cassidy was not required to show up in court and had a lawyer handle his appearances. Now that he faces a felony, Cassidy will have to personally make his court appearances, McNally said.

In August 2008, Cassidy spoke at a fundraising gala for The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council of Saratoga County and admitted having an alcohol problem.

"Tonight, I am publicly stating that I am an alcoholic," Cassidy told a crowd of approximately 250, according to a story that appeared in the Glens Falls Post-Star following the event.

Cassidy is scheduled to return to town court on Sept. 4.

bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier