Woman live-streams herself while 'drunk' driving

10 News Staff and Garin Flowers | WTSP-TV, Tampa, Fla.

Show Caption Hide Caption 'Drunk' woman Periscopes while driving, gets arrested A Florida woman is facing a DUI charge after police say she live streamed her drunk drive home on the Periscope app. Lakeland, Florida police say people watching her video called 911 to report it.

A Florida woman used a live streaming app on her phone to record herself while drunk driving on Saturday, according to police.

Lakeland police received 911 calls about a possible drunk driver who was using the social media app Periscope to broadcast her illegal joy ride to the masses on Saturday.

"You hear her saying she's drunk," said Sgt. Gary Gross, Lakeland Police spokesman. "I got to tell you I was a little shocked. After 30 years of law enforcement I hadn't seen anything like this before."

As a result of the video being streamed worldwide, numerous messages on the app and personal text messages were sent to the driver asking her to stop driving before she killed someone or herself.

One 911 caller stated that the female was driving in the north Lakeland, Fla., area, but he could not provide a specific location as he was watching the streaming video live. The female driver, identified as Whitney Beall, 23, repeatedly said she was "drunk," and that she had a flat tire. Beall said several times that she was unaware of where she was.

As the caller was giving police dispatch the details from the video, the video was turned off several times and the caller was unable to provide a vehicle description other than that it was a Toyota.

LPD doesn't provide officers with access to Periscope as an authorized software tool and they didn't have the ability to monitor her actions. One officer took the initiative to download it and open up a personal account in an effort to locate the driver.

"They're like, 'What's periscope?'" Gross said. "Luckily, one of our younger officers was able to figure it out."

Officers were then able to pinpoint landmarks in the area from the streaming video and located Beall. They said she was driving a 2015 Toyota Corolla, 4-door with a flat left front tire.

Officers witnessed her hit the curb with the right front tire as they initiated a traffic stop and said they smelled alcohol emanating from Beall.

Beall failed the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and refused the breathalyzer test. She was arrested by Officer Mike Kellner and charged with DUI. She was later transported to the Polk County Jail.

The incident has sparked LPD to train their officers on how to use Periscope and emerging technology, so they'll be ready when something else like this occurs.

"It's probably technology like anything else we'll look at and probably have selected individuals within the police department will be trained to be able to use it," Gross said.