Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish avoided further jail time on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor alcohol-related driving charge. The case stems from her 2022 arrest in Georgia, triggered when a member of the public called 911 about a driver asleep at the wheel at a traffic light.
Additional charges against Haddish were dropped. After entering her plea via video, she was placed on 12 months' probation, ordered to refrain from drugs and alcohol and instructed to complete a substance abuse evaluation. She received credit for the brief time spent in jail following her arrest.
Haddish's film credits include comedies such as Girls Trip, Night School, Like a Boss and The Kitchen. She authored the New York Times best seller The Last Black Unicorn, which earned a Grammy nomination. In 2018, she won an Emmy for her appearance on Saturday Night Live, followed by a Grammy in 2021 for her special Black Mitzvah.
Court documents show a caller contacted 911 at around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 14, 2022, reporting someone seemingly asleep in the driver's seat of a white Ford Explorer with a foot on the brake pedal. The incident occurred in Peachtree City, approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Atlanta. A police officer located the SUV matching the caller's description and stopped Haddish as she entered a neighborhood.
Haddish's lawyers in May asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that waiting more than four years for the case to be resolved had caused personal and professional difficulties and violated her right to a speedy trial. Fayette County State Court Judge Jason Thompson rejected her arguments.
The judge found that Haddish and her attorneys had requested some of the delays, including a request for a delay so she could attend a fashion show in Morocco and a request to leave a hearing early to catch a flight. He wrote that she also did not show any evidence of having missed specific performing opportunities or of actual financial harm because of the delay.
Haddish also was arrested in November 2023 in Beverly Hills, California, on suspicion of driving under the influence after police received a call and said Haddish appeared to be slumped over the wheel of a vehicle while the engine was still running.
Haddish reached a plea deal with prosecutors in that case in February 2024, pleading no contest to a vehicle code violation, and the two misdemeanor DUI charges against her were dropped, according to the Los Angeles Times.
