Florida Drivers on I-4 couldn’t believe their eyes when a 24-year-old woman sped the wrong way down the busy highway and sideswiped a Tampa police cruiser. What made the already shocking incident go viral? Her jaw-dropping excuse when she told officers her husband was the one driving, even though she was alone in the car.
Dashcam video released by Tampa Police shows the silver Toyota Camry weaving in the eastbound lanes late Sunday night before striking a marked patrol vehicle near Ybor City. Officers and Florida Highway Patrol troopers quickly moved in, boxing the car off and pulling the driver out.
Instead of taking responsibility, police say the woman immediately tried to dodge blame. “It wasn’t me driving, it was my husband,” she told officers at the scene.
The driver, later identified as Kristian Beall, was arrested and charged with DUI, aggravated fleeing and eluding, leaving the scene of a crash, and driving on the wrong side of the highway. Her blood alcohol content, according to officials, tested at nearly double the legal limit.
The Excuse That Sparked Confusion
No officers were injured in the sideswipe, though the patrol car was damaged. Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw condemned the behavior in a statement:
“There is absolutely no excuse for driving under the influence. She could have killed someone.”
But it was Beall’s bizarre excuse that captured the internet’s attention. Social media users quickly turned the quote into meme fodder. “Florida Woman strikes again,” one person joked on X. Another wrote, “She went full wrong-way Mario Kart, then hit the blame button.”
Videos of the incident have already racked up thousands of shares across TikTok and Facebook, with commenters stunned that someone would try to pin a DUI crash on a spouse who wasn’t even there.
For all the laughs online, police warned that wrong-way driving is one of the most dangerous problems on Florida highways. This time, the only casualty was a dented cruiser and the driver’s dignity. Next time, authorities say, lives may not be so lucky.
