Investigators planned to hand Bobby Brown's DUI case to prosecutors late Tuesday as Whitney Houston's best buddy said the bad boy singer deserved sympathy.
"It was a misdemeanor arrest. We'll finish the report by end of today and process it over to the Los Angeles City Attorney," a source with the California Highway Patrol told the Daily News.
"I support Bobby," Houston's close pal Kim Burrell told The News. "He spent 17 years in a relationship and marriage with Whitney, so why wouldn't he be going through some difficult times right now?"
She said grieving people "sometimes do these things" because they're not thinking straight.
"He happens to be a public person who's getting through a private moment, and the whole world is hearing about it. And he has my full, 100% support to get better," she said. "He's coping, and unfortunately everything is raised up a notch because of Whitney's death."
Brown, 43, was pulled over near his Encino, Calif., residence Monday afternoon for talking on his cell phone.
"Officers, when contacting him, noted intoxication on him, the smell of alcohol, and they performed some field sobriety tests," CHP Officer Tiana Reed told The News
A source in Brown's camp said the singer had liquor in his system from drinking he did before he woke up Monday morning.
The source said Brown's handlers urged him to attend an AA meeting Monday night to help his case.
"It could have been worse. It could have been really, really bad behavior, with all his irate-ness and craziness," the source said, referring to the arrest.
The legal jam comes less than a week after officials revealed Houston had cocaine in her system when she accidentally drowned in a hotel bathtub Feb. 11.
Brown's turbulent 14-year marriage with Houston weathered allegations of drug use and physical abuse – drama depicted on the reality show "Being Bobby Brown."
Brown was arrested for drunk driving in 1996 and sentenced to five days behind bars for crashing Houston's Porsche with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit.
He served more jail time in 2000 after a court-ordered drug test showed traces of cocaine.
