Rima Fakih Former Miss USA gets probation in DUI case
Rima Fakih, the first Arab-American women who become Miss USA. But the 26-year-old beautiful woman is punishable by imprisonment trial, including social work (community service), because of drunk driving cases.
AP news agency reported on Wednesday (09.05.2012), Rima Fakih likely escape punishment in prison when giving out information in a court in Highland Park, Michigan, USA.
Trial judge sentenced her to six months in prison, if Rima Fakih caught again driving while drunk.
But the judge ordered Rima Fakih doing social work, in the form of community service for 20 hours. But she was touched to pay fines and costs amounting to U.S. $ 600.
In addition, Rima Fakih was also ordered to take classes alcoholics.
Rima Fakih insisted she was not drinking alcohol when she was arrested in December last. But the two police officers who conduct alcohol tests on blood alcohol levels found Rima Fakih more than twice the specified limit for driving
She was asked Wednesday about her previous denial, but Fakih’s lawyer, W. Otis Culpepper, said he didn’t think it was “fair to revisit what went on that night.”
Fakih’s family moved to New York from Lebanon in 1993 and then to the Detroit suburb of Dearborn 10 years later. When she won the Miss USA Pageant in 2010, she became the first Arab-American to do so. Supporters described her win as a victory for diversity, saying it countered negative stereotypes about people of Middle Eastern descent that have flourished in post-Sept. 11 America.
Police said Fakih was driving 60 mph in a 30 mph zone and weaving in and out of traffic before they pulled her over, and officers found an open bottle of champagne behind the driver’s seat of the 2011 Jaguar.
One breath test put her blood alcohol content at 0.20 and another put it at 0.19. The legal limit is .08.
Fakih said Wednesday the incident was out of character for her and that she didn’t take her first drink until age 23.
“It’s not something that I grew up to be like a party girl or anything like that,” she said.
Fakih said she plans to pursue careers in acting and public speaking. She’ll appear in a new celebrity dating show called “The Choice,” which premieres June 7 on Fox.
“I’m more of an international figure now. I have young girls and people from all over the world watching me, so I have to make sure that anything I do I’m taking extra precaution,” Fakih said. “Even though my intentions weren’t to drive drunk, I did put myself and a lot of people in danger. So I did learn a lot.”
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