Paris Hilton says DUI arrest ‘was nothing’

updated 8:29 a.m. ET Sept. 8, 2006

LOS ANGELES - For once, Paris Hilton wasn’t happy to be the center of attention.

Hours after paparazzi swarmed the Hollywood police station where the celebutante was booked for investigation of drunk driving, she told radio host Ryan Seacrest people were making too big a deal out of her arrest.

“Everything I do is blown out of proportion and it really hurts my feelings,” said Hilton, who called the incident “nothing.”

Los Angeles police officers stopped the 25-year-old socialite early Thursday morning after she was seen driving erratically, said Officer Marjan Mobasser.

The singer, actress, handbag designer and heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune told KIIS-FM’s Seacrest she was on an early morning hamburger run when she was stopped.

She hadn’t eaten all day and was “starving,” Hilton explained. So the one-time pitchwoman for Carl’s Jr. said she decided to visit a neighborhood In-N-Out burger stand.

“So maybe I was speeding a little bit and I got pulled over,” she said, denying that she was driving recklessly.

“I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out burger,” she said.

Police said she had a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent, the minimum to warrant an arrest.

Hilton had spent Wednesday filming a music video and going out for dinner with her sister Nicky and some friends. Later they headed to a charity event, where Hilton said she had one margarita.

According to a national research study, a 137-pound woman would need to consume three drinks in one hour on an empty stomach to reach a .08 blood-alcohol level. The 5-foot-8-inch fashionably lithe Hilton likely weighs much less than that.

Police turned over the misdemeanor case to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file charges. If Hilton is charged she likely will be arraigned on Sept. 28, said city attorney spokesman Nick Velasquez.

If convicted, Hilton could be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000. As a first-time offender, however, she is more likely to receive a fine, probation and license suspension and be ordered to perform community service and attend an alcohol-rehabilitation program.

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