As much as Tiffany Haddish loved that “beautiful” Beverly Hills jail, the comedian will not face any more jail time due to her Thanksgiving weekend arrest.
The “Girls Trip” and “Haunted Mansion” star reached a plea deal Thursday in Los Angeles that resulted in two misdemeanor DUI charges against her being dropped. However, prosecutors filed a new charge, a reduced vehicle code violation known as the misdemeanor “wet recklessness,” to which Haddish pleaded no contest, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Wet recklessness is one of the lowest offenses that prosecutors can allow a suspect to plead guilty to in a drunk driving case.
Haddish, 44, was also placed on one year of summary probation and ordered to complete a driver's education program, the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Victim Impact Program. Los Angeles County Hospitals and Morgues, as well as 40 hours of community service. the district attorney's office said. He will also have to pay a number of standard fines and fees.
“EM. Haddish has accepted a simple violation of the highway code (not driving under the influence, which has been dismissed) and hopes to put this behind her,” her lawyer Alex Spiro said Friday in a statement to the Times. He also hopes to be removed from Haddish's record.
The Emmy and Grammy-winning star, who was arrested on November 24 of last year, had initially been charged with one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving with a blood alcohol level of at least 0.08%. She pleaded not guilty to both DUI charges during her arraignment on December 20.
Haddish was arrested the day after Thanksgiving after serving meals at Los Angeles' Laugh Factory and performing at the historic comedy club on Thanksgiving Day. Authorities received a call around 5:45 a.m. that Friday about a vehicle blocking the road on Beverly Drive near Dayton Way. Haddish was reportedly asleep at the wheel of an improperly parked car.
The comedian joked about the incident during a later performance at Laugh Factory. Then, after charges were filed in December, he said “this will never happen again” and promised to “get help” to “learn balance and boundaries.”
In late December, Haddish praised the amenities of the Beverly Hills jail during a Christmas set at the Laugh Factory and also shed light on its struggles.
“I'm not perfect. I'm a human being,” he said on Los Angeles news radio station KNX. “And I've been doing research on this. A million people in the United States every year are charged with DUI. And what are they charged with? Have I noticed? I have to go to bed. I can't help everyone. OKAY. I can't show up and rescue people because I'm tired.
“I also learned that everyone thinks I'm super rich and I think they forget that I'm a black woman working in this business,” she added. “And they think people want to work during the holidays. And they don't. The driver doesn't want to drive on vacation and he definitely doesn't want to take me to help someone else. “They’re not going to go there.”
Haddish still faces a DUI case in Georgia, where she was arrested in 2022 after allegedly falling asleep at the wheel.
A Georgia judge ordered the comedian not to drink alcohol or take illegal drugs after her arrest in Los Angeles, according to court documents cited by Radar Online. The news outlet said she would also be subject to court-ordered random drug and alcohol testing.
Times staff writers Sarah Parvini and Carlos De Loera contributed to this report.
