Woman Arrested for DUI After Filming Herself Driving Drunk on Periscope App
A woman in Florida was arrested over the weekend on DUI charges after several Periscope users saw her live-streaming herself driving drunk and reported her to the police.
The Lakewood, Florida resident used her Periscope app to live-stream herself to users because she was drunk, lost, and needed help. She titled her live-stream video, which was open to the public for viewing, “Drunk Girl Driving.”
Periscope is a mobile phone app owned by Twitter, which allows users to film themselves with their smart phones and live stream their experiences to the world. While the app advertises itself as allowing users to show their great adventures and positive experiences to other users, in the case of this drunk 23-year-old, she needed help and turned to the internet.
The Florida resident admitted during the 11-minute-long video that “driving drunk is not cool.” She tried to field directions from users so she could get home, because she was lost.
“I’m (expletive) drunk and this is horrible. I don’t even know where the next gas station is. This is horrible guys,” Beall said in the video. “So where am I right now people? … We don’t give a (expletive) where the (expletive) we are and I’m drunk. I’m sorry guys.”
“I haven’t been arrested yet, and I really don’t hope so,” she said in the video.
Many Periscope users watching the video implored her to pull over so she could get help from police officers, before she killed someone or herself. Other users reported her activity to the police.
“I just saw a girl on Periscope driving drunk. She doesn’t know where she is and she’s driving really fast,” said a 911 caller. Another caller identified her vehicle as a Toyota Corolla with a flat front tire.
Officers initially had a difficult time finding out where she was based on the video, but finally an officer used his own Periscope app to find her video and identified her location based on landmarks. When police initiated a traffic stop, she reportedly hid a curb and did not hit the brakes.
“She was out of it. And it’s obvious from watching that livestreaming video how bad she was,” Lakeland police Sgt. Gary Gross said in an interview.
She failed standard field sobriety tests, according to police reports, then refused a breathalyzer test. She was arrested on DUI charges and has since bonded out.
The streaming Periscope video highlights the dangers of driving while intoxicated through the eyes of a drunk and irresponsible young adult,” said police.
However, the woman’s attorney said that he will enter a plea of not guilty on her behalf, after examining all the DUI evidence. Although she admitted to being intoxicated, field sobriety tests alone are not a fully reliable method of testing a driver’s level of drunkenness. In addition, although her attempt came through a strange channel, she tried to reach out for help when she needed it, showing a certain level of responsibility.
