Troubling police body cam footage shows the moment a green-haired woman was found passed out drunk behind the wheel of her car following St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Florida, according to police
The video, which was posted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), shows a deputy approaching a black sedan stopped at traffic lights at the Adamo exit of I-75 in Tampa shortly before 3 a.m. Monday.
The woman, identified by Fox 13 Tampa as 27-year-old Quionta Carter, was fast asleep with her head resting against the steering wheel while heavy music, Outkast’s "The Way You Move," blared out.
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The female deputy can be seen shining her flashlight into the car and tapping the driver on the shoulder before she opens the door and attempts to wake Carter up. As Carter moves around, her head presses against the car's horn several times.
The next clip sees the deputy struggling to get Carter to lean against a police vehicle, and when she does, the deputy asks her what road she is on.
"The brown one… the brown one," said Carter who was wearing a green and white colored top with the words "Irish XL Drinking Team" emblazoned across the front coupled with green shamrocks.
When the deputy asked Carter what city she was in, the driver responded by saying "I couldn’t tell you… I don’t know" as she bowed her head and crossed her arms.
Carter then goes on to say she has had "a lot" to drink and said she does not remember where she had come from.
Carter was then seen doing a walk and doing a sobriety test before being cuffed by the deputy. She was charged with driving under the influence and released on $500 bond on Monday, Fox 13 reports.
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Sheriff Chad Chronister said that the driver had made the wrong choice by allegedly opting to drink and drive.
"This woman's irresponsible decision could have ended in tragedy if our DUI (driving under the influence) team wasn't so quick to arrive at the scene," Chronister said in a short statement accompanying the video.
"I promise you, getting a taxi, Uber, or Lyft is a lot cheaper than a DUI."
HCSO says it arrested 26 people last weekend as part of "Operation Guinness." Guinness is a popular Irish stout often associated with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
The police force says it conducted 316 traffic stops to ensure that drivers adhered to traffic laws and did not get behind the wheel intoxicated.
"With St. Patrick's Day occurring during Spring Break, we were anticipating a heavy influx of drivers on our roadways," Chronister said in a statement.
"Thanks to the diligence of our DUI Unit and our patrol deputies, drivers that could have seriously injured themselves or other drivers spent a night in the Orient Road Jail rather than on our roadways. We are fortunate the weekend passed without any major incidents."
