A Durham woman who has gained notoriety online for erratic driving and the license plate "STAYUMBL" was found guilty Wednesday of reckless driving and impeding traffic in an April incident involving a school bus.
Diana Taije Mems, 51, was sentenced to 120 days in jail, which was suspended to a year on probation. District Judge Amanda Maris also ordered Mems to complete a safe driving course within 60 days, perform 25 hours of community service and pay a $100 fine in addition to court costs.
Other WRAL Top Stories
"The sheer number of accidents on this record is formidable," Maris said after reviewing Mems' driving record and finding 16 crashes since 2009, including five that resulted in an injury.
The judge dismissed a charge of improper passing against Mems, however, saying police had incorrectly marked the citation and there wasn't enough evidence to support a conviction under the sections of the law that were marked on the form.
School bus driver Jacquanna Barrett-Laws testified Tuesday she had just dropped students off at Lucas Middle School on April 12 and was driving on Snow Hill Road when she noticed a silver car passing her on the left, despite a double yellow line. When the car got out in front of the bus, Barrett-Laws said, the driver began pumping the brakes and eventually came to a complete stop, all while holding her cellphone out the window.
"I noticed her license plate, and that was just enough for me to be a little suspect," she said. "It's all over social media – STAYUMBL, the license plate, beware, beware, beware."
Mems has become infamous on social media, where dozens of posts point out the STAYUMBL plate and criticize her driving. Some people accuse her of trying to force other drivers to rear-end her vehicle by stopping abruptly in traffic.
WRAL News learned that Mems changed her license plate after being cited in the Durham case.
But Mems contended that Barrett-Laws cut her off and forced her to swerve to avoid a collision. She said the bus then came speeding up behind her with its horn blaring, and she stopped because she feared something was wrong with her car.
Both women recorded cellphone videos of the encounter, and Mems said Barrett-Laws made obscene gestures and yelled profanities at her.
Durham County Assistant District Attorney Austin Braxton demonstrated in court Wednesday that no profanities could be heard in either video, but Mems insisted that Barrett-Laws' video had been edited to exclude them and that they couldn't be picked up on her video over the school bus horn.
Defense attorney John Fitzpatrick called Barrett-Laws a "renegade and reckless bus driver" who was eager to get a viral video of the STAYUMBL driver.
"[She] took her opportunity to get her 15 minutes of fame," Fitzpatrick said in his closing argument. "At the end of the day, I think she was really upset, your honor, that she tried to get into that lane, and my client did not stop. ... Like road rage, I'm going to drive up to you, scare you, honk the horn and intimidate you and let you know that I'm right here."
Braxton argued that none of Mems' testimony was credible, noting that she said both that she stopped in the road because she thought something might be wrong with her car and because she was trying to make a left turn. He noted that she never bothered to pull off onto the shoulder to check her car and that there was nowhere to make a left turn along that stretch of Snow Hill Road.
"She had disregard for anyone on that bus," Braxton said.
Mems said after the trial that she was glad to tell her side of the story, saying she doesn't think she's treated fairly on social media.
"It’s painful, but it’s the reality of society – social media is not so social," she said. "People are quick to judge without getting the whole picture. People jump on bandwagons."
She also faces charges of speeding and reckless driving in Wake County, as well as a charge of failure to appear in court on the driving charges in May.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman sought an indictment against Mems after learning of her history of accidents and driving offenses, saying Mems poses a risk to the public. As a result, the case was moved from traffic court to Superior Court.
Mems rejected a plea deal from Wake County prosecutors in that case, and a trial is set for next Monday. Until then, she remains without a driver's license – a judge ordered her to surrender it as a condition of her bond in the case.
The Wake County District Attorney's Office and the state Department of Insurance are reviewing Mems' history to determine if any of the dozens of crashes she's been involved in since 2000 have been staged to collect an insurance payout.
Authorities have said that Mems has used 18 aliases and had a fake address on her driver's license. Freeman has asked the state Division of Motor Vehicles to merge the records of Mems' aliases to make sure authorities have her accurate driving record.