Riverhead, N.Y. ? Publicist-to-the-stars Lizzie Grubman began serving a 60-day jail sentence Wednesday for backing her Mercedes SUV into a crowd of people outside a Hamptons nightclub in an incident that exposed class tensions in the Long Island resort community.

A teary Grubman apologized again to the victims of the crash. “I’m haunted by it daily,” she said before she was led off in handcuffs.

Her father, high-powered entertainment attorney Allen Grubman, and other relatives were with her in court.

Grubman, 31, admitted last month that she had backed her luxury vehicle into a crowd outside a trendy Southampton club in the summer of 2001.

Witnesses said she got upset when a bouncer at the Conscience Point Inn asked her to move her vehicle from a fire lane. The bouncer, Scott Conlon, claimed Grubman called him “white trash” before slamming her car into reverse.

Sixteen people suffered injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones. Grubman was whisked from the scene in another vehicle. By the time police tracked her down, it was too late for her to take a breath-alcohol test.

The crash heightened tensions between locals on the east end of Long Island and the wealthy out-of-towners who arrive every summer. The seasonal Hamptons crowd is often regarded as condescending to year-round residents, and Grubman has been held up as an example of the rich and spoiled.

Grubman pleaded guilty to a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident and a misdemeanor assault charge. Judge Michael Mullen sentenced her to 60 days in jail, 280 hours of community service and five years’ probation.

Attorneys Steve Scaring, left, and Edward Burke, right, walk with entertainment publicist Lizzie Grubman outside of Criminal Courts Building in Riverhead, N.Y. Grubman on Wednesday began serving a 60-day sentence for felony charges in connection with an automobile accident in July 2001 that injured 16 people outside a Hamptons nightclub. She also will have to do community service and probation.

“I believe that you’re truly sorry,” the judge told Grubman.

With good behavior, she could be out in 40 days. She could have faced up to seven years in prison if convicted of the most serious of the original charges, which included felony assault.

“I think she was treated like anyone else,” said prosecutor Joy Watson, who was brought in from neighboring Nassau County over fears of potential conflicts in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

Grubman was one of New York’s highest-profile publicists, with clients such as singer Britney Spears, rappers Jay-Z and Wu-Tang Clan and Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola.

A fixture on the New York nightlife scene, she lives in a two-bedroom, four-bath duplex on Manhattan’s East Side, where she once boasted she kept 87 pairs of designer pants and 67 pairs of designer shoes.

Grubman was placed in the general jail population and did not ask for protective custody, her lawyer said. She will live in a 6-by-8 cell.

At least eight crash victims have sued for millions of dollars. Scaring said most of the lawsuits had been settled.