Award-winning journalist and avid Native American activist, Jenni Monet was arrested for a DWI in Santa Fe after a store clerk reportedly refused to sell her two bottles of wine. According to reports, Monet was refused sale because she appeared intoxicated already.
Surveillance video obtained by KRQE News 13 shows Monet pull up to the store, go inside and be refused service. She then went back out to her car before she went back inside, and started screaming and making obscene gestures toward the staff.
Immediately after she left again, both she and the staff called for deputies.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department video of the incident was also obtained by KRQE News 13. Transcript by New 13:
“Have you been drinking at all tonight?” a deputy asked her. She said “no.”
“Okay. How come I can smell a really strong odor of alcohol?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve not been drinking,” she replied.
Monet told the deputies she was racially profiled.
“How were they racially profiling you is what I’m trying to get at?” the deputy asked.
“Because I’m a brown woman. Do you not see that?” Monet said, drawing a circle around her face.
Monet refused field sobriety tests and grew angry.
“I’m not walking any f***ing line for you. You hear me? I am not walking any f***ing line for you,” she told them.
She was then arrested, and screamed out, “Police brutality!” multiple times. She also called deputies names, saying “You f***ing fat-fingered f***!” and “You f***ing racist motherf***er. You f***ing white supremacist!”
Still, Monet is sticking to her story, and has even threatened to sue KRQE News 13 for their coverage of the story. The news outlet has disclosed that Monet worked for their organization some 20 years ago, but has not since had any affiliation with KRQE.
“I am one of a majority of people who are victimized by this kind of racial profiling that exists on a daily basis,” Monet told KRQE News 13 after speaking at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.
“Neither was I drinking or driving at the time, and we’re confident that the evidence that stands in my favor will vindicate me,” she continued. “The fact that I’m an award-winning journalist and that I said that to these officers, and they didn’t even run an ID check on me or check my name, or even validate the fact that I had called them for help …” Monet added.