A cringe-inducing dashcam video shows South Carolina officers arresting a drunken woman who tries to use everything from her whiteness to her high school grades to argue against going to jail.
Police say they pulled over 32-year-old Lauren Elizabeth Cutshaw on Saturday after she ran a four-way stop sign at a speed of 60 miles per hour. Upon pulling her over, they noticed that she appeared intoxicated. That observation was corroborated by the breathalyzer test she took, which showed her blood-alcohol level as 0.18 percent, well above the state’s 0.08 legal limit. Cutshaw was arrested for drunk driving, as well as speeding, disregarding a stop sign, and possession of marijuana, among other things.
Drunk driving arrests are unfortunately very common. Crying and pleading while being arrested, as Cutshaw did, is also not uncommon. However, the arguments Cutshaw made to officers in her plea to not be placed in jail were very unusual.
Cutshaw reportedly told officers she is a “very clean, thoroughbred white girl.” When an officer at the police station asked her why her race should matter in this, she replied, “You’re a cop, you should know what that means.” In the dashcam footage, Cutshaw can be heard talking about how she can’t go to jail and saying she had been a cheerleader and in a sorority. The 32-year-old also brought up her high school membership in the National Honors Society as a defense and said her partner was a police officer.
The arresting officer found these justifications both unconvincing and bizarre. “Making statements such as these as a means to justify not being arrested are unusual in my experience as a law enforcement officer, and I believe further demonstrate the suspect’s level of intoxication,” wrote the officer in the police report, obtained by local site the Island Packet.
According to the police report, Cutshaw told officers she only had consumed two glasses of wine. When asked how full the glasses were, she replied, “I mean, I was celebrating my birthday.” Cutshaw was booked into Beaufort County Detention Center on Saturday, and as of Tuesday is no longer in custody.
H/T USA Today