Witherspoon fined $100 over cop row

Reese Witherspoon has pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge resulting from a heated confrontation with a state trooper in Atlanta, her lawyer says.

The Hollywood star paid a $100 fine settling the case, said Municipal Court of Atlanta Deputy Solicitor Ronda Graham.

Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said earlier that the department will release video from a state trooper’s dashboard camera that captured the confrontation and Witherspoon’s arrest. Celebrity website TMZ has aired a copy of the video.

The footage shows Witherspoon asking the trooper, “Do you know my name?” and then adding, “You’re about to find out who I am.”

The actress has apologised for her behaviour.

During a TV interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Witherspoon said that she had “one too many” glasses of wine, and panicked after she and her husband were pulled over.

“I have no idea what I was saying that night,” she said. “I literally panicked. I said all kinds of crazy things. I told them I was pregnant. I’m not pregnant.”

Witherspoon, 37, was arrested after the trooper said she would not stay in the car while her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, was being given a sobriety test.

The video shows the state trooper repeatedly telling Witherspoon to get back inside the car while he speaks to Toth. She initially tells him she is pregnant and needs to use the toilet.

At another point, she approaches the trooper as he reminds her of his directive to stay in the car. When she defies his warnings to immediately return to the vehicle, he starts handcuffing the actress and she becomes irate.

“This is harassment! You’re harassing me as an American citizen! I have done nothing against the law!” she says.

After more words are exchanged, the trooper leads her away off-screen, presumably to the police car, while Toth looks on.

When the trooper returns, Toth tells him: “I had nothing to do with that.”

“I know,” the trooper responds.

Toth was charged with drunken driving and is due in court on May 23.