BATON ROUGE - State Representative Donna 'Kathy' Edmonston has broken her silence a little more than a day after she was arrested for a drunk-driving crash.

In her first public statement on the matter Thursday, Edmonston called the situation a "wakeup call" that has pushed her to "evaluate my personal choices." You can read the full statement below.

State Police say Edmonston was driving south on Airline Highway near the Pecue Lane intersection Tuesday night when she struck a vehicle that had been stopped for a red light.

Apparently, the light had just turned green and Edmonston failed to brake appropriately as she approached the stopped car. 

When authorities pulled her over, they noticed that her breath smelled of alcohol and she displayed poor balance. Edmonston also allegedly walked into traffic on the opposite side of her car.

Arrest records say she failed standardized field sobriety tests, and a breathalyzer revealed that her blood alcohol content was .143, which is well over the legal limit of .08.

Edmonston works in the Ascension Public schools and won election to the state House 88 seat last November. She had just taken office in January.