Raheem Sterling Charged with Dangerous Driving and Nitrous Oxide Possession
Raheem Sterling will appear in court next month charged with dangerous driving and possessing nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation after crashing his car into motorway barriers in May.
The 31-year-old, capped 82 times by England and most recently at Feyenoord, crashed his Lamborghini on the M3 in Hampshire on the morning of Thursday, 28 May 2026. The collision happened on the southbound carriageway near the Minley Interchange.
Police arrested Sterling at the scene and later released him on bail while investigations continued.
In a statement, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed he has now been charged. "A driver will appear in court next month to face charges following a collision on the M3," a spokesman said.
"Raheem Sterling, 31, from Berkshire, has been charged for the following offences: dangerous driving, possession of nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation, failing to provide a specimen.
The charges come following a single vehicle collision, involving a Lamborghini, on the M3 southbound, close to the Minley Interchange [Hampshire], on 28 May, 2026.
No other vehicles were involved and no injuries were reported. Mr Sterling is due to appear at Basingstoke magistrates court on 15 September."
Officers had suspected Sterling of driving while unfit through drugs, but that allegation has not formed part of the charges brought.
Back in May, a source close to Sterling told BBC Sport there was "no proof" of drugs in his system. The same source said the forward had endured "an extremely tough couple of years" and had been made to "feel worthless" and "forgotten about".
Those words cut sharply against the memory of his peak years. This is a player who once sat at the heart of Manchester City’s dominance, a winger who terrorised defences and carried England at major tournaments. Now he waits for a date at Basingstoke magistrates court and remains without a club.
Sterling has been a free agent since leaving Feyenoord at the end of last season. He had joined the Dutch side only in February on a short-term deal after agreeing to terminate his contract with Chelsea by mutual consent.
Chelsea had paid £47.5m to sign him from Manchester City in 2022. At City he collected four Premier League titles, five League Cups and one FA Cup in seven glittering years, before his Stamford Bridge move signalled a new chapter that never quite settled.
The slide was gradual but clear. In 2024, the former Liverpool winger went to Arsenal on loan, but when he returned to Chelsea in 2025 he was frozen out of the first-team squad and ordered to train separately.
For England, Sterling’s record remains substantial: 82 caps between 2012 and 2022, three World Cups, two European Championships, and a central role in some of the national team’s most progressive football in decades.
Now the focus turns to 15 September and a courtroom in Basingstoke, where one of the defining forwards of his generation will answer charges that stand in stark contrast to the heights of his career.
