Funk All-Star Clinton Arrested

Funk music pioneer George Clinton was arrested and charged with drug possession after allegedly admitting to an officer he had cocaine in his pocket.

Clinton, of Tallahassee, was arrested Saturday and released on bond, according to jail officials, who wouldn't release any other information.

The musician's lawyer, Shoshana Zisk of San Francisco, didn't immediately return a call for comment on Monday. Clinton's home number is unlisted.

Clinton, 63, who headed the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic — and the collaboration later known as P-Funk — in the 1970s and 1980s is considered a father of the genre. In 1983, Clinton's solo record, "Atomic Dog," rose to the top of the R&B charts.

Clinton was sitting by himself in a car in a gas station parking lot early Saturday when a police officer approached him, said Tallahassee Police spokesman Stewart Clendinen.

Clinton tried to hide an item he was holding, dropping it between the seats, police said. He then started to reach into his pocket and the officer asked him if he had anything in his pocket.

Clinton allegedly responded: "I've got a little cocaine."

The item he dropped between the seats turned out be a crack pipe, police said.

Clinton was charged with cocaine possession, a felony, and with possession of the pipe.