In an interview with anchor Doreen Gentzler, WRC anchor Leon Harris talked about the night he was arrested for DUI and promised to do better to regain people’s trust.
Harris was taken off the air at the NBC owned Washington, D.C. station in January after being arrested for DUI. He has served time in jail for the incident and has since been reinstated as an anchor.
In January, he rear ended a car that then collided with a third car. No one was seriously hurt. Harris then tried to leave the scene following the crash.
“After drinking, I decided to get into my car and drive. This is the worst decision I could possibly have made,” Harris said at the time. “I have thanked God every day that—since that night—the accident did not result in someone’s death. I put the safety of others at risk; for that, I cannot apologize enough.”
During the interview, which got emotional at times, Harris told Gentzler he was more impaired than he thought he was the night he was arrested. “In my condition I could kill someone,” he said.
“I know I let so many people down,” he said.
Harris, who has been an anchor at the station for five years, said he blamed his decision the night of the arrest on the alcohol and the disease of alcoholism.
As part of his recovery, Harris said he’s doing three hours of therapy in the morning and promised to show he has earned a shot “at getting trust back by patterns not promises.” Meaning he will pattern his life “in a more responsible way.”
“I’m going to do what it takes to make it happen,” said Harris.
Harris is serving three years of supervised probation and has to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicle.