Do Not Record Yourself After Committing DUI

Social media played a role in a horrific tragedy last week in a fatal accident that received national attention. Three young women—an 18-year-old and two 14-year-olds—were traveling from Fresno to Stockton, CA when an overcorrected turn caused their truck to roll into a field. The two 14-year-old girls in the backseat were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle.

One of the 14-year-old girls was killed—her 18-year-old sister was the driver.

What would have been an already-tragic situation became increasingly macabre when the driver of the vehicle began livestreaming on Instagram, apologizing to her sister and promising her viewers that she didn't mean for her to die. She also indicated that she expected to go to jail for life, and tried to rouse her sister to awaken. The unresponsive young girl was declared dead at the scene when emergency services arrived.

Now that the 18-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of DUI, her livestream has become key evidence regarding her state of mind and behavior at the scene. The video went viral shortly after it was posted—one of her followers on Instagram posted the video to Facebook, where another local shared it to her account. It spread from there.

The Lesson for Those Under Suspicion of DUI

We're not sure what drove this young woman to livestream her apology to her sister—but it's not hard to believe that social media is shaping the way we experience life. Now that we have a built-in audience for the things we do, it often drives people to use that audience at every possible opportunity for fame (or infamy). However, none of that is relevant with regard to the law.

If you've potentially committed DUI (or could be vulnerable to arrest), then you need to protect your privacy. You need to protect your account of what happened. You need to protect your side of the story. Livestreaming her apology (or livestreaming at all) will damage this young woman's case. It will limit her options, and it may drive any jury against her almost immediately.

Even under the most incriminating DUI circumstances, attempting to give yourself "the last word" on social media will not give you dignity or sympathy. Even if it did, sympathy won't necessarily keep you safe from conviction—and it's a cold comfort for those whose lives are changed forever by criminal charges.

If you're looking for a DUI defense attorney, find one near you in our directory as soon as possible.