A former cheerleader has been captured on dashcam video trying to plead her way out of being arrested by arguing that she is “pretty” and “thoroughbred” white woman.
Bluffton Police Department took the unusual step of releasing footage of Lauren Elizabeth Cutshaw’s arrest on Saturday, which has made headlines around the world and accusations of “white privilege”.
Police said the 32-year-old real estate adviser had glassy, bloodshot eyes and was slurring her words when they pulled her over in Bluffton, south Carolina, after seeing her speeding through a stop sign at 60mph.
Cutshaw was breathalysed and recorded a blood-alcohol level at 0.18%, police said. In South Carolina it is illegal to drive a vehicle if your blood-alcohol concentration is 0.08% or higher.
In the footage, Cutshaw is heard begging the officer not to send her to prison, initially listing her background as a cheerleader, dancer and a sorority girl who had graduated from a “high accredited university”.
“Please, I don’t want to know what it’s (prison) like,” Cutshaw sobbed from the patrol car, before adding: “I’m a pretty girl. Don’t make me go in there.”
Cutshaw went on to tell the officer she had never been in trouble with police before and that an arrest would “ruin her career”.
On her LinkedIn page, Cutshaw describes herself as a: “President’s Club winner and top-level sales executive, poised for Nationwide sales and marketing experience with Fortune 500 companies.”
While being processed at the police station, Cutshaw later described herself as a white “thoroughbred” and “a white, clean girl”, the officer noted in his arrest report.
“I asked what that had to do with anything?” the officer wrote. Cutshaw replied: “You’re a cop, you should know what that means”.
Cutshaw was also said to have repeatedly told the officer that her partner was a police officer and that she had only had two glasses of wine.
When quizzed further about how much alcohol she had consumed, Cutshaw, who just turned 33, replied: “I mean, I was celebrating my birthday.”
She later conceded she “may have” smoked cannabis earlier in the evening after another officer found the drug and rolling papers in her Ford Fusion, the arrest report notes.
Cutshaw faces charges for speeding, disregarding a stop sign, simple possession of marijuana, driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia.
She was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center and later released, the New York Post reported, citing court records.
According to her LinkedIn page, Custhaw has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Louisiana State University, where she was philanthropy chairman at Delta Zeta sorority.