Florida Woman Who Live-Streamed Her Alleged Drunken Driving Sentenced
Whitney Beall pays for her Periscoping while driving.
-- A Florida woman who live-streamed last year while claiming to be intoxicated faces an enhanced sentence, though no jail time, after entering into a plea deal on a charge of driving under the influence.
Whitney Beall, 23, made headlines in October after a Periscope viewer helped Lakeland police identify and arrest the allegedly intoxicated woman as she live-streamed from what appeared to be a moving vehicle.
"I'm driving home drunk," she can be heard saying on the video posted on the Periscope app, the live-streaming video service that allowed users to tune in and type comments as she appeared to slur her words.
One viewer urged her to stop driving before she hurt herself, the Lakeland Police Department posted on its Facebook page after the alleged Oct. 10 incident.
Responding officers said that they smelled alcohol on her breath and she failed field sobriety tests before being arrested and taken into custody. She threw up in the back of the police car while en route to the station, according to a Lakeland Police Department affidavit.
Beall appeared in court Feb. 9 where she pleaded “no contest,” Assistant State Attorney Lori Winstead told ABC News today.
The terms of the plea deal were standard for a first DUI offense, Winstead said, meaning 12 months of probation, alcohol evaluation and treatment, a 10-day vehicle impound, six months driver’s license suspension, as well as no alcohol and no bars.
But Beall also received an enhanced sentence because of “publicly flaunting her disregard for the safety of the community,” Winstead said, referencing the live-streaming on Periscope. So she was also sentenced to 150 hours of community service and 10 days of weekend work release.
Neither Beall nor her attorney has responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.