Video Shows Florida Woman Doing "Irish Folk Dance" After Police Asked Her For Sobriety Test
She tried to dance her way out of trouble.
A suspected drunk driver led police officers on a (literal) merry dance after being asked to walk the line during a roadside sobriety field test. The 38-year-old woman accused the deputies of sounding like her old ballet teachers and decided to perform some traditional Irish dance moves instead of walking in a straight line as requested. The woman "struggled to follow instructions and was unsteady on her feet almost falling," according to to arrest documents. The whole incident was caught on camera—here's what happened.
According to deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Florida, the Madeira Beach woman had rear-ended another car barely a mile from her home. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, she reportedly showed signs of intoxication, including bloodshot eyes and dilated pupils. The video shows the woman being given direct instructions by a deputy and struggling to follow them. Keep reading to see the video.
At one point in the video, a deputy asks, "Do you want to pay attention so I can give you the instructions?" The belligerent woman responds with, "Yeah, well, you sound like my ballet coach." She then took five shaky steps along the police line before breaking into some questionable ballet moves. "That wasn't the exercise that I was demonstrating," the deputy told her. The woman followed up her ballet with a dubious Irish folk dancing/ballet hybrid.
The woman's dance audition didn't exactly work out—she was charged with driving under the influence, property damage, and refusal to submit to testing. This is the second time the woman in question has refused testing after being suspected of drinking and driving after an initial incident in Pinellas County on March 3, 2019. There is no information on whether she tried to dance her way out of trouble that time, too.
Deputies say they found a white cup in the woman's car containing a light yellow liquid that smelled like alcohol. According to arrest documents, the woman "struggled to follow instructions, and was unsteady on her feet almost falling." Florida's open container law makes it illegal for anyone to drive with an open container of alcohol in the car. This applies not only to the driver but to other passengers, and is enforced even if the car is parked.
It might be a while before the woman is allowed back on the road again. Aside from this being her second offense, refusing a blood, breath, or urine test in Florida can result in a driver's license being suspended for 18 months as well as other serious penalties. "Any person who accepts the privilege extended by the laws of this state of operating a motor vehicle within this state is, by so operating such vehicle, deemed to have given his or her consent to submit to an approved chemical test or physical test including, but not limited to, an infrared light test of his or her breath for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his or her blood or breath if the person is lawfully arrested for any offense allegedly committed while the person was driving or was in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcoholic beverages," reads the statute.
