Erin Brockovich-Ellis issued a statement of apology Sunday for her boating DUI incident in Nevada.
According to a report in USA Today, Brockovich-Ellis insisted that her actions did not pose a risk to public safety. She claimed that she wasn't operating the boat in open waters.
Brockovich-Ellis did admit that what she did was a "big mistake." "I take drunk driving very seriously, this was clearly a big mistake, I know better and I am very sorry. After a day in the sun and with nothing to eat it appears that a couple of drinks had a greater impact than I had realized," she said.
Meanwhile, the mug-shot of the 52-year-old environmental activist was released on Monday, in which she is sans any of her regular make-up.
Brockovich-Ellis was arrested on Friday after she was seen struggling to dock her motor boat at the Las Vegas Boat Harbor (she was said to have been out in Lake Mead with a male companion but was alone during the docking operation). The game warden of the Nevada Department of Wildlife went to her assistance and noticed signs of intoxication. Brockovich-Ellis' breath test showed her blood-alcohol level to be well over the permitted limit. She was taken to Clark County Detention Center and released on a bail of $1000 without any jail time.
Brockovich-Ellis became famous after Julia Roberts portrayed her battle against Pacific Gas & Electric in a movie titled "Erin Brockovich". A law clerk at the time, she was fighting the company for polluting the water supply of a small town in California. She continued her stint in the media spotlight by hosting a show on ABC called "Challenge America with Erin Brockovich" and another on Zone Reality called "Final Justice". She is also the president of a research and consulting firm and is involved in environmental projects around the world. According to her official website, some of the cases in the U.S. that Brockovich-Ellis is working on are in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Missouri.
