Shia LaBeouf thanks police for 'changing his life' by arresting him in 2017

Shia LaBeouf has paid tribute to the police officers who arrested him for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and obstruction in Georgia in 2017.

The actor was accepting an award for screenwriting for his new movie Honey Boy at the Hollywood Film Awards when he credited the law for putting him on a new path.

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“I want to thank the police officer who arrested me in Georgia,” he said, to whoops from the crowd, “for changing my life.”

He added: “I want to thank my therapist and my sponsor for saving my life [and] my parents for giving my life.”

The bodycam footage of LaBeouf's arrest in Savannah, Georgia in July 2017, where he was filming the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon, went viral, as did his verbal abuse of the officers involved.

It was his second arrest that year, and he was found not guilty on the public intoxication charge, but pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, and was fined $1000 and given a year's probation.

Last month, he spoke about his 'deep shame' over the incident, particularly after he returned to the film's set.

“I can’t look anyone in the eye. And I can’t come to terms with it,” he told The Guardian. “And no one’s talking to me and I’m talking to no one, and I know my life has exploded again. And I am in deep shame.”

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He later entered a rehab facility, during which he began writing the script for Honey Boy, an autobiographical story of his turbulent upbringing working as a child actor.

In the movie, he plays a fictionalised version of his own father Jeffrey.

LaBeouf is being tipped for awards for his performance, with critics offering up rave reviews.

It’s released in the UK on December 6.