Newly released dashcam footage shows Britney Spears repeatedly refusing to get out of her car during a March 4 DUI arrest in Ventura County, California, as officers tried to conduct a sobriety investigation following reports of erratic driving.
In the video published Thursday, initially by TMZ, California Highway Patrol officers tell Spears, 44, they could smell alcohol coming from inside her black BMW convertible and ask her to step out so they could determine whether she was fit to drive. This followed a 911 call from another driver reporting that Spears was swerving across two lanes, which she claimed happened because she was on her phone.
"I'm going to be honest with you, I do smell alcohol coming from your car, OK?" a CHP officer told Spears during the stop shortly after 9 p.m. "That's why I want you to step out, and that way I can ask you some questions and conduct a DUI investigation. If I feel like you're OK, then I'll get you out of here, OK?"
Spears repeatedly declined to exit the car, at one point telling officers she felt “invaded” and “harassed” by them, saying, "I haven't done anything wrong." When a supervising officer stepped in and asked to move the interaction away from passing traffic to reduce attention from onlookers, a concern she cited for not getting out of the vehicle, Spears instead offered an alternative.
"You can come to my house. I'll make you food and lasagna, or whatever you want. I have a pool. My babies are coming to my house tonight, supposedly,” Spears said.
Spears shares two sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline, Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 19, whom she told officers that she hadn’t seen in four years. She added that she planned to give one of them the new BMW she was driving the night of her arrest, and that it was her first time behind the wheel of the vehicle.
After about 10 minutes, Spears finally stepped out of the car and moved to the sidewalk, where officers conducted field sobriety tests. Spears and officers were out of frame in the dashcam footage, though the audio captured their conversation.
“I detected the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from her breath and person,” an officer wrote in a police report obtained by Us Weekly. “Her speech was rapid and slurred, her gait was unsteady, and she was fidgeting with her fingers.”
The “Gimme More” singer could be heard in the video telling officers that she takes Lamictal, a prescription mood stabilizer commonly used to treat bipolar disorder, along with the antidepressant Prozac daily, also rating her level of intoxication a 0 out of 10. Spears also admitted to taking Adderall on the day of her arrest, according to the police report. An officer reported finding a bottle of pills labeled “Adderall” in Spears’ purse that was not prescribed to her, along with an empty wine glass in the car’s front cup holder, per the report.
She claimed to have had one mimosa “around 2 p.m.” and that the last thing she ate was ice cream at 3 p.m.
“I could probably drink four bottles of wine and take care of you. I’m an angel,” Spears told the officers in the dashcam footage.
An officer reported “drastic mood swings” during the interaction with Spears, noting that she occasionally spoke in a British accent and shifted between being “confrontational and agitated” and “flamboyant,” according to the police report. In the video footage, Spears became emotional when officers told her she was under arrest for DUI, insisting she was not intoxicated and accusing them of being “mean.”
She then made an unexpected remark referencing a past incident involving her mother, Lynne Spears, who previously admitted to being involved in a 1975 accident in which she struck and killed 12-year-old Anthony Winters while driving in Kentwood, Louisiana.
“My mom accidentally killed a man on a bike, but I never did that before,” Spears told officers. “And nothing happened to her.”
Spears then questioned why her mother “got away with everything” and alleged that Lynne had tried to harm her as well, which may have been a reference to her former years-long conservatorship that ended in 2021.
“Why didn’t they kill her? Why didn't they arrest her? How come my mom got away with everything? My mom tried to kill me,” Spears said.
She also asked if the officers could sit with her in the patrol vehicle so she would not be alone.
“Okay, we're going to put you in the front seat of another car,” the officer said. “Is that better? “
“I don't want to be by myself,” Spears cried. “Yes, sir.”
Spears was briefly booked into Ventura County Main Jail after her arrest and released a few hours later under a “cite and release” procedure. She then entered a rehabilitation facility in mid-April, reportedly spending nearly three weeks at Borden Cottage in Camden, Maine, receiving dual diagnosis care for both substance abuse and mental health services, according to TMZ. She finished the inpatient program in late April and then went back home, where she’s continuing counseling remotely, the outlet said.
Spears reached a plea deal earlier this month in which prosecutors dropped the DUI charge and reduced it to a “wet reckless” involving alcohol. As part of the agreement, she received 12 months of probation and was ordered not to possess any drugs without a valid prescription.
