A notable DUI case continues, with updated details concerning last December's drunk driving charge against former Miss USA Rima Fakih emerging last week.
We summarized the initial developments in that story for our readers in a December 6, 2011, blog post. At the time the story was first reported -- and as we dutifully noted in our post based on the information that was available at the time -- Fakih was spotted by a Detroit-area police officer in the early morning hours of December 3 after she pulled the car she was driving over to a curb, realizing that she was too intoxicated to drive.
She had been serving as the designated driver, given that her companion had been drinking throughout the evening. Media reports at the time did not indicate what Fakih's blood-alcohol content was when she was stopped.
Police now say that two breath tests were administered to Fakih, with the results being 0.20 percent and 0.19 percent, respectively, both those amounts being more than two times above the legal threshold for drunk driving.
Reports now stress Fakih's assertion that she wasn't drinking at all that night, so there is clearly a disconnect between the two sides in the case.
That case is scheduled for a March 14 trial date, unless a plea deal is reached.
Fakih won the Miss USA pageant in 2010, being the first-ever Arab-American woman to capture the title.
Her attorney says she is remorseful, wants to put the matter behind her and is "a woman of substantial character."
Source; Huffington Post, "Rima Fakih, Ex-Miss USA, appears in Mich. court on drunk driving charge" Ed White, Jan. 18, 2012
