DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. executive Elena Ford, the great-great-granddaughter of Henry Ford, was placed on probation after pleading guilty to drunken driving with her 11-year-old son in a Ford Explorer earlier this month, news reports said Thursday.
Elena Ford, director of global marketing, sales and service at Ford, was sentenced to 24 months probation and ordered to undergo counseling and perform 240 hours of community service.
She was also fined $1,518 in court costs by Ferndale, Mich., District Judge Joseph Longo, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported.
In court Thursday, Elena Ford told the judge that she had four glasses of wine prior to her arrest, according to the Free Press.
"Being here today is something that I've never experienced -- nor will I likely experience again," Ford told Longo, according to the News. "It's a complete embarrassment to my family -- especially to my son -- and embarrassment to my family. And I can't tell you how sorry I am that this happened."
Longo refused defense attorney Todd Flood's request that probation be cut to one year, the papers said.
"Whether you're working on the line or in the boardroom, you get 93 days in my court" for this offense, Longo told Ford, the Free Press said.
The newspapers said Longo set aside a 93-day jail sentence pending successful completion of her probation. Ford, 44, of Birmingham, Mich., will also be subject to random drug and alcohol screenings while under probation.
Ford was pulled over April 3 in Ferndale, a Detroit suburb, for speeding along Woodward Avenue and driving onto the median. She initially declined to take a breathalyzer test without her attorney present.
Ford was cooperative but flunked field sobriety tests at the time, according to police reports. While under arrest for driving while intoxicated, she agreed to take the test and registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.18. Under Michigan law, a driver with a level of .08 or higher is considered intoxicated.
The News said the incident has been reported to the Michigan Department of Human Services in Oakland County, which investigates such cases to determine whether children are at risk. Ford, the mother of four children, had no prior driving offenses, according to state records, the News said.
