Justin Timberlake spoke out on Friday after his arraignment in connection with his arrest on June 18. Scroll below to see Timberlake’s comments on the incident.
Earlier, Timberlake was seen arriving at the Sag Harbor Courthouse in New York, looking silent and serious as he walked through the crowd.
Justin Timberlake faced a throng of cameras as he arrived at the courthouse in Sag Harbor, New York, to finalize a plea deal in his DUI case. pic.twitter.com/TrLAGUlKRm
translation:
Timberlake wore a navy blue sweater, slacks and sunglasses for his court appearance, but appeared to attend without his wife, Jessica Biel.
TMZ Confirmed A judge accepted Timberlake’s plea to driving while impaired (DWAI), and a previous DWI charge was dropped.
He will be required to perform 25 hours of community service within a year, pay a $500 fine, and have his driver’s license suspended for 90 days. Justin will also likely be required to appear in a public service announcement about not drinking and driving.
As fans may remember, Justin appeared in a Budweiser PSA with *NSYNC a few years back, also urging people not to drink and drive. here.
Afterwards, Justin told reporters, “I try to hold myself to very high standards, but that wasn’t the case this time.”
He went on to send a message to the nation, saying, “Even if you have had one drink, don’t drive. There are so many other options. Call a friend, use Uber, there are so many travel apps, take a taxi… This is a mistake I made, but I hope that everyone watching and listening to this video right now can learn from this mistake. I certainly have. Like I said, even if you have had one drink, don’t drive.”
Timberlake added, “I grew up in a small town so I understand how difficult or special this must have been for the residents of Sag Harbor, but I’m very grateful and want to thank everyone involved in this case, including the police department.”
He concluded by saying, “We can all be safer and I want to do my part and I hope everyone does their part too.”
On Thursday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Page Six argued that Justin isn’t getting any special treatment just because he’s a celebrity.
“One of the things we want to make sure of … is consistency. We don’t want to treat one defendant better than another just because they’re perceived to be notorious,” he said, “but we certainly don’t want to treat people worse for the same reasons, either.”
Last month, DailyMail.com obtained Timberlake’s arrest report, which revealed that the singer failed multiple field sobriety tests, including the walk and turn test and the one-legged stand test, after being pulled over in his vehicle on June 18.
The documents also included notes from rookie officer Michael Arkinson, describing Justin’s “erratic” behavior that night.
Atkinson wrote, “His eyes were bloodshot and vacant, he smelled of alcohol on his breath, he had difficulty concentrating and was unsteady on his feet.”
She added that Justin “had a martini and followed his friend home.”
Atkinson explained that while undergoing tests to walk, turn and stand on one leg, Timberlake “had very poor balance” and “was unable to follow commands properly.”
Mr Atkinson said Justin “couldn’t concentrate on speaking” while searching for his registration documents.
Despite the reports of the arrest, Timberlake’s lawyer, Ed Burke, told reporters at a court hearing in July that he was confident that Justin was “not intoxicated” and said, “The most important thing we have to say today is that Justin should not have been arrested for DUI.”
