‘I’m so drunk,’ Florida driver says on social media before arrest
In this photo made available Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, shows Whitney Beall. Lakeland, Florida, police arrested Beall, 23, for drunk driving. Authorities say 911 calls from concerned viewers led to the arrest of the Florida woman who was streaming live video of herself while driving drunk. AP
LAKELAND, Florida — “I’m so drunk,” a Florida driver repeatedly tells followers on the social media app Periscope, staring at her cellphone’s camera, mounted on the dashboard, before she is arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
The Lakeland Police Department released video from the app Tuesday, after the arrest from the weekend made national headlines. In the video, a glossy-eyed Whitney Beall said that she thinks she’s blown a tire and that she’s driving very slowly.
Assuming a tone halfway between bemusement and a realization that what she is doing is wrong, she said, “I’m f—— drunk and this is horrible.”
“All the way home people, I’m going to be drunk,” she said. “I’m super drunk right now, in a place I really don’t want to be in.”
At one point, the 23-year-old woman said she turned right when she meant to go left.
Parked at a red light, she told her followers to send her any messages and expressed surprise when she saw 57 people were following her. She said one follower told her to keep her eyes on the road.
“I can’t even believe I’m Periscoping right now,” she said. “I’m not even paying attention to the driving. … Please supervise me right now because I’m driving super drunk right now.”
Other Periscope users urged her to stop driving. Some called the police.
“Let’s see if I can make it all the way home, people, without a ticket,” she said at one point.
She would not be so lucky. An officer logged onto Periscope and located Beall’s car.
Officers said Beall failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breath test. She was released on $500 bail.
No one answered a phone number Tuesday listed under her name.
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