A blue-haired woman speeding the wrong way down a Tampa interstate at 2:30 a.m. sparked a dramatic police chase that ended with her arrest and a bizarre claim: her husband was driving, despite being alone in the car. Kristian Beall, 24, was apprehended on September 13, 2025, after a high-risk pursuit on Interstate 4 in Tampa, Florida.
She now faces serious charges for driving under the influence (DUI), aggravated fleeing to elude, and high-speed eluding. The incident began when Tampa Police Department (TPD) received reports of a silver Toyota Camry barreling westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-4 at approximately 60 mph. Beall, behind the wheel, ignored officers’ attempts to pull her over, nearly sideswiping a TPD patrol car in her reckless flight. The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) joined the effort, and after an initial tactical maneuver failed, TPD officers executed a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) to spin out and stop Beall’s vehicle.
Dashcam and body-worn camera footage, later released by TPD, captured the tense operation as officers boxed in the Camry to prevent further danger. During the stop, Beall’s behavior raised red flags. Slurring her words and visibly unsteady, she insisted to officers,
“My husband’s driving me home,”
despite clear evidence she was alone. When pressed about the absence of anyone else in the car, she doubled down, saying,
“No, he’s driving us home. I was in the passenger seat.”
Her confusion extended to the pursuit itself, as she seemed unaware she was driving against traffic, responding to an officer’s question about going the wrong way with, “On this interstate?”
Breathalyzer tests confirmed her blood alcohol content at 0.199 and 0.202, nearly two-and-a-half times Florida’s legal limit of 0.08. Beall admitted to having
“one full drink at my house and two drinks at the bar,”
a claim that didn’t align with her severe intoxication. Officers conducted a field sobriety test, which Beall failed, struggling to follow instructions and maintain balance. She mentioned wearing glasses but said she didn’t have them because she “wasn’t driving home.” After her arrest for DUI, she was taken to Orient Road Jail in Tampa, where she also faces charges for her high-speed evasion and reckless driving.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw praised the swift response, stating,
“Our officers and the Florida Highway Patrol worked seamlessly to stop this individual before anyone was seriously hurt or killed.”
He urged drivers to use ride-sharing services, taxis, or designate a sober driver to avoid such dangerous situations.
The pursuit caused minor damage to a patrol car but did not injure officers or civilians, a fortunate outcome given the potential for disaster on the busy interstate.
