drunk driver toronto

Impaired Toronto woman tries to pass off Apple Music account as her driver's license

Driving under the influence is no laughing matter, but it's hard not to at least scoff-chuckle (or breathe a sigh of relief) when someone visibly outs themself as wasted in front of the cops.

Exhibit A: This footage from the dashcam of a York Regional Police (YRP) cruiser in which a woman repeatedly attempts to present her iPhone, and specifically the Apple Music and Google Map apps within it, as her driver's licence.

The clip starts with an officer pulling over a sedan in Vaughan near Clarence Street and Wycliffe Avenue around 6:45 p.m. on June 24, and telling its driver that she had run two stop signs and thrown litter out of the vehicle.

"And I can smell alcohol," says the officer after speaking with the driver. "What time was your last drink?"

The woman says her last drink was two hours ago but, after being asked for her driver's license, she shows the officer her iPhone.

"What are you trying to show me?" he asks, to which the woman slurs: "what I'm stopping to."

"I asked you for your driver's license and you're showing me a picture of J. Cole," says the police officer before asking the woman to step out of the car.

We then see the duo in front of the cruiser having a conversation. The woman once agin holds up her iPhone for the cop, who asks: "Why are you showing me a map?”

"That's where I was stopping… you told me to stop right?”

The officer then informs the woman that she's being investigated for impaired driving and lists off the reasons to support his suspicion.

"Do you have a driver's license, yes or no?" he ultimately asks the woman, prompting her to reply in the affirmative and once again show the cop her iPhone, saying "look."

Again, the officer doesn't understand what the woman is trying to show him — and with obvious reason: Ontario driver's licences don't live on phones, and especially not within Apple Music or any other commercial app.

"Ok, you're under arrest, you're drunk," says the officer. "You've got a kid in the car for God's sake."

And that's where things go from sort of funny in a "thank god she didn't kill anyone" type of way to just... sad. And scary.

"York Regional Police has arrested and charged a driver who chose to drive impaired while a child was in the vehicle," reported YRP in a release issued Friday.

"Fortunately, the officer stopped the vehicle before anyone was hurt, including the two passengers in the vehicle, one of whom was a five-year-old girl."

The driver, a 33-year-old woman from Toronto, has been charged with several offences including Impaired Operation, 80 Plus, and Driving while Under Suspension.

"We are not giving up in our fight against impaired driving. We are urging our citizens to partner with us in the Safe Roads: Your Call campaign by calling 9-1-1 if they suspect a driver is impaired, this weekend and all summer long," say York Regional Police.

"We remind those who choose to drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol that not only are police officers watching for them; our citizens also refuse to tolerate this behavior. Anyone choosing to put others at risk by driving while impaired should expect to be caught and charged."

Lead photo by

York Regional Police


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