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Woman’s mugshot goes viral thanks to her face beat

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Marshala Perkins. (Photo: Twitter/@Marshaladenise_)
Marshala Perkins. (Photo: Twitter/@Marshaladenise_)

Marshala Perkins was arrested on 6 February for being in possession of dagga but it’s her face beat that catapulted her to social media stardom.

According to Teen Vogue, the 20-year-old had just finished filming a beauty tutorial on Facebook Live when her friends invited her on a night out.

But before Marshala, a student at the Texas A&M University-Commerce, in Commerce, Texas, could leave two police officers approached her car.

"[One officer] asked me for my handicap sticker because I was in a handicap spot," Marshala, a self-taught make-up artist, told BuzzFeed.

She explained that she often drives her mother, a cancer patient, around, which is why she’s allowed to park in a handicapped spot.

"I gave the sticker to him and he brought it back, said everything was clear."

But instead of leaving, one of the officers remarked that the car smelt of weed.

Marshala apparently denied having smoked dagga but the policeman went ahead and searched the car.

According to Independent.co.uk, police found two grams of weed and arrested her on the spot.

She was taken to Hunt County Jail, in Greenville, Texas, where her now-famous mugshot was snapped.

"And so I went to jail for it with my beat face.

"At first I was embarrassed because getting arrested isn’t really something you want to broadcast.

"But then when I saw all the support for me with my face beat, because make-up is something that I really wanted to do, I was like ‘OK!' I wasn’t feeling too bad about it.”

Mugshot Baes, a Twitter account that shares mugshots of women who've been arrested, tweeted Marshala’s picture in April and the shot went viral.

The tweet got nearly 2 000 retweets and 12 000 “likes”.

"We need a tutorial! Free her!" one Twitter user joked.

However, her arrest hasn’t been a case of all’s well that ends well. According to BuzzFeed, Marshala was left with a $2 000 (R30 700) court fee and has lost her part-time job at Walmart as a result of the incident.

Financial strain and her mother’s breast cancer battle have forced the 20-year-old temporarily to take off from university.

“I really regret going out to my car that night," Marshala admits.

"But it’s all a learning experience, you know?"

SOURCES: BUZZFEED, TEEN VOGUE, INDEPENDENT.CO.UK, CBS LOS ANGELES

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