Hilton arrested for suspicion of driving while drunk

By Stone Martindale Sep 7, 2006, 15:54 GMT

Elliot Mintz is working overtime once again. EPA/PETER FOLEY

LOS ANGELES – Heiress Paris Hilton was arrested early Thursday for suspicion of driving under the influence, according to Los Angeles police.

Hilton was arrested shortly before 12:30 a.m., being pulled over in Hollywood, said police Officer I. Isabella, who declined to give his first name.

Police stopped Hilton because she was "driving erratically," he said. "The officers observed that Hilton exhibited the symptoms of intoxication. A field sobriety test was conducted at scene, and the officers determined she was driving under the influence," Isabella said, reading a police statement.

Hilton was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI and released on her own recognizance, he said.

Publicist Elliot Mintz confirmed the arrest and said police detected the minimum blood-alcohol level to warrant an arrest. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.

"She's absolutely fine," Mintz said. "She didn't appear in the least bit to be intoxicated."

Allegedly Hilton was driving home in her Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren from a charity event where accoding to Mintz she had one drink, a margarita, he said. She had spent the day shooting a music video for her new album, "Paris."

Just hours after her arrest on suspicion of DUI, Paris Hilton called into the On Air with Ryan Seacrest show on LA's KIIS-FM this morning and told Ryan that she may have been driving a little fast in her Mercedes McLaren SLR, but it was only because was hungry and going to get a burger.

On air, Paris told Ryan she had a long day Wednesday filming the video for her new single "Nothing in This World." She told Ryan she wrapped shooting for the day, went to dinner with sister Nicky and girlfriends then attended a charity event hosted by Dave Navarro - having one margarita.

She says she left to drive home - only a few blocks away and must have been going too fast because she was "starving" and just wanted an In N' Out Burger. 

The driving under the influence symptoms were "probably the result of an empty stomach and working all day and being fatigued," Mintz said.

She was picked up from the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood station by her sister, Nicky, Nicky's boyfriend, Entourage actor Kevin Connolly and Mintz.

In June, Hilton had a fender-bender accident when her Range Rover backed into a car in a parking garage after a shopping trip.