Woman gets topless in middle of busy South Valley intersection

A woman who the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department says was under the influence of drugs got topless and stopped traffic at a busy intersection.

The incident happened Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Henderson and Prospect avenues in Porterville. It came to light because of video that had already generated about 50,000 views on social media as of Friday evening.

As the 67-second video begins, the apparently middle-aged woman (the sheriff’s office didn’t identify her) is in the middle of the intersection with just her bra and sweatpants on.

“You got to get out of the road, girl,” a man says off-camera. A woman also can be heard on the video, which appears to be shot from the front window of a vehicle at the intersection.

After taking a few steps toward the people recording the incident, the woman takes her bra off – just as a school bus drives through the intersection behind her – and places the undergarment on the middle of the road. It is unclear if there were children on the bus.

“Oh! She just took her bra off,” the woman says.

Then as the half-naked woman walks away from the camera, the man says, “There’s a sheriff right there.”

The half-naked woman appears to attempt to put on a long-sleeve shirt with her back toward the camera, but then changes her mind.

About 10 seconds later, a sheriff’s cruiser with its lights turned on appears.

Still, the woman continues to roam the intersection even as vehicles drive by.

“Oh my God,” says the woman in the vehicle. The man replies: “She’s just leaving her bra there.”

The half-naked woman was taken to Sierra View District Hospital for a mental evaluation and then booked on suspicion of being under the influence of narcotics, indecent exposure and resisting arrest.

Video of the incident prompted many jokes about Porterville.

This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Woman gets topless in middle of busy South Valley intersection."