A woman in Indianapolis was arrested Sunday night under suspicion of, yep, drunk driving, after her Chevrolet Malibu fell through the ice on the Indiana Central Canal running through downtown.
Biankia Larayne Gleason, 33, was spotted by several residents of Indy driving along the frozen waterway. Her Christmastime joyride ended with her car falling through thin ice and into the freezing water below.
Bystanders helped fish Gleason from the frigid waters. She later told first responders that her GPS system sent her along the canal, but that seems unlikely. A spokesperson with the Indianapolis Fire Department told WTHR News that Gleason would have to drive down an embankment to reach the canal.
(The YouTube video wouldn’t play when embedded, but you can watch Gleason’s car drive by on the canal in a video here.)
Plus, you’d think the ice skaters she passed would have been a dead giveaway that she was no longer on a road.
She went north until she reached a dead end at 10th Street and turned around to go south, IFD said. Her car broke through the ice in the 400 block of West New York Street, near North West Street. According to IFD, Gleason got out of the car, with the help of several bystanders, and waited in the lobby of a nearby hotel.
Police were called to the area around 11 p.m. When they arrived, IMPD said nobody was in the vehicle. The bystanders helped officers find Gleason.
Gleason was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. She bonded out of jail, according to Fox59, which spoke to the person who shot the viral video of Gleason’s ride:
FOX59 spoke with the person who took the now-viral video. Mason Brauchla was taking the trash out when he saw the headlights, “I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing.”
Brauchla said, “I couldn’t believe first off the ice was even supporting their car for that long. They were probably going 30 miles per hour at least I was just shocked.”
The next day, the tracks from Gleason’s trip down the canal were still clearly visible:
For a city known for its driving and races, this will be one drive residents won’t soon forget.