Lesbian.com, July 13, 2012
Cat Cora was charged with DUI in June following a minor accident in which she rear-ended another vehicle. Nearly a month later, her mug shot has now been released by the Santa Barbarba, Calif., police department.
The “Iron Chef” and “Around the World in 80 Plates” star was taken to the Sobering House in Santa Barbara and not to jail on the night of her arrest, so she did not have to take a mugshot that night, according to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Riley Harwood. The Sobering House is a place where cooperative, non-violent people who have been arrested for DUI are taken to sober up before being released.
By law, Cora had up until the date of her arraignment on July 26 to come in and get her mugshot taken, which explains an 11-day lag between the incident and the photo, according to Harwood.
When police arrived at the scene of the accident on June 17, the diminutive Cora admitted to having had three beers at the Cold Spring Tavern before attempting to drive home after an argument with her partner. She submitted to both breath and blood sample testing that night, registering a .19 on each. The legal limit in California is .08.
“I deeply regret my decision to drive that evening after my designated driver became unavailable,” says Cora in a statement released by her lawyers. “I learned a very important lesson from this experience and take full accountability for my actions. This will never happen again.”
There were no injuries reported as a result of the accident.
