Shia LaBeouf made a "sincere apology" to the Savannah police officers he railed against when he was arrested for public drunkenness over the weekend in Georgia, saying that he is taking active steps to secure his sobriety.
The actor, whose racist, expletive-laden exchanges were caught on officers' body cameras and published online by TMZ, posted his statement on Twitter on Wednesday following his latest brush with law enforcement. LaBeouf said he was "deeply ashamed" of his behavior.
"I don't know if these statements are too frequent, or not shared often enough, but I am certain that my actions warrant a very sincere apology to the arresting officers, and I am grateful for their restraint. The severity of my behavior is not lost on me," he said.
The 31-year-old was arrested at his hotel on Saturday morning by Savannah police after the situation escalated when he tried to bum a cigarette from an officer. LaBeouf unleashed a verbal assault during the arrest and taunted the officers during the booking process, claiming he was an American who paid his taxes and called the officers "cowards," "pirates," "slimy" and the type "who put their own kind in the pen."
He also told a black officer that he would be going to hell because of his skin color and taunted a white officer about his wife's sexual preferences. (And that's about all we're allowed to say in this family-friendly newspaper.)
"My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst. It is a new low," LaBeouf continued in his apology. "A low I hope is a bottom."
The actor hoped to be forgiven for his mistakes and admitted to "struggling with addiction publicly for far too long."
"I am actively taking steps toward securing my sobriety," he said, though he did not elaborate on what that would mean.
In addition to the public-drunkenness allegation, LaBeouf was also arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and obstruction. He was released from jail after posting $7,000 bond on charges of public drunkenness and appeared back on the set of his film "The Peanut Butter Falcon" on Monday, TMZ said.
