It’s not every day that the public fights over drinking and driving. Yet sometimes, third-party perspectives don’t always see the issue as something cut and dried. When someone from a tire shop in Stockton, California, recently got on the internet and accused a special education teacher of a drunken hit-and-run, the internet did not agree about what had occurred.
On October 21st, a controversial video appeared on the TikTok channel @np.tiresandwheels. The video creator asked for the public’s help in identifying who the woman in the footage was. They told viewers she had been driving while drunk and had also committed a hit-and-run. They were aware that she worked in special education and lived in Stockton, California. Yet they claimed that they needed her name.
The footage shows a woman appearing to slur and refusing to provide her license to the person asking for it. She also refused to remain on the scene until the local police were able to arrive. She claimed that she’d already given them her insurance information and that her husband informed her she was able to go home.
After @np.tiresandwheels uploaded the video, viewers claimed the woman shown was Calista Ann Rodriguez, a teacher at Walton Special Center. Some expressed anger and wanted her punished for driving under the influence. Yet just as many people jumped in to defend her, claiming she didn’t seem drunk, and had valid reasons to leave.
She doesn’t look nor sound intoxicated. She gave her information for [the] insurance claim. It’s not a hit an run. Careful she may sue you for defamation. I would.
The comment thread was flooded with dozens of similar reactions. Some people pulled the race card, insisting Calista was scared because the OP was an immigrant male.
California Tire Shop Insists Teacher Was Drunk
The OP wasn’t having it, and insisted that the woman did not leave insurance details. “If you condone drinking and driving[,] JUST SAY THAT,” they replied, adding that she smelled of booze when exiting her car.
Some agreed, appalled by so many defending her actions. They stated she was clearly trying to avoid a DUI. Yet despite her loose door panel, dubious speech, and choice to leave the Stockton, California accident scene, many are steadfast in feeling she did not commit a crime.
Add in the information that the Stockton, California police chose not to pursue the woman, and viewers are doubling down on her innocence. Her school has supposedly shut off the comments on their webpage, though.
