A Republican state legislator from New Mexico was busted for driving under the influence recently, and the bodycam footage was released this week. The lawmaker, Monica Youngblood, can be heard on the video (after failing the field sobriety tests) begging the officer to let her go because she “fights for them everyday.” The officer wasn’t having it. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Transcript:
A few days ago a Republican lawmaker from the state of New Mexico was busted for a DWI, Driving While Intoxicated. Yesterday, the body cam footage from that arrest was finally released, and we get to see this Republican lawmaker begging police officers not to arrest her because, as she says, she’s the one who goes out there and fights for them everyday, so logically, they should return the favor and just let this woman who broke the law go free. It’s a longer clip, but I wanted everybody to see her fail her sobriety test first, and then hear her begging the police officer to let her off the hook for it. Take a look.
Police Officer:
Do you have … What level of education do you have? I’m sorry to ask you that, I know it’s personal, but …Monica Y.:
I have a high school …Police Officer:
Okay.Monica Y.:
… diploma plus a real estate license.Police Officer:
Okay.Monica Y.:
Plus I’m a state rep.Police Officer:
Oh good. So you can count backwards I’m assuming, and you know your alphabet.Monica Y.:
Yes.Police Officer:
Okay. Can you count backwards from 47 to 32 for me please, out loud?Monica Y.:
47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.Police Officer:
All right. And can you recite your alphabet, starting with F, ending with R? F to R. Out loud please.Monica Y.:
F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.Police Officer:
Do you have anything in your mouth? Like gum or tobacco or anything like that?Monica Y.:
No.Police Officer:
Can I see? Lift up your tongue. Thank you.So the test that you just did Monica, they’re not pass or fail tests, there are just certain clues that I look for, okay, that measure impairment. Okay? So what needs to happen now is I need to get you down ’cause I need you to do a breath test, okay? Depending on the results of that breath test is how we go from here, okay? So I need to …
Monica Y.:
But I … I …Police Officer:
Place you under arrest for DWI. So go and turn around for me and put your arms up high please.Monica Y.:
No, no, no. No, no, no.Police Officer:
Yes, turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around, and put your hands up.Monica Y.:
This is not happening.Police Officer:
Turn around and place your hands behind your back. You have had alcohol, I can smell alcohol, and my tests show.Monica Y.:
I have not had alcohol.Police Officer:
Okay. Well then we need to decide it to take the breath test or not and then that’ll show that.Monica Y.:
No. I’m not going to …Police Officer:
Well, it’s up to you. If you don’t want to do the test, I can’t force you to. There are penalties, but I’ll read you that once you get over there.Yeah.
Monica Y.:
I literally did everything right.Police Officer:
You didn’t do everything right. They’re not pass …Monica Y.:
I did too.Police Officer:
Stop turning around on me please. Thank you so much. They’re not pass or fail tests, there are just certain clues that are observed and you exhibited quite a bit of those clues. So let’s walk over to my car please. Okay, this way.At least, what …
Monica Y.:
My dog is in the car.Police Radio:
740 I have all units involved in …Police Officer:
We’re going to take care of the dog.Police Radio:
… moved over to event 7, every 54 and everything done by any of the units that were previously on …Monica Y.:
My husband …Police Officer:
Well I’m sorry that you guys were in the argument, I mean, that’s … I don’t mean to add more issues to your night, but …Monica Y.:
It’s not a matter of my night. It’s the seriousness. I literally fight for you guys every …Police Officer:
Well that doesn’t make it okay to drink and drive.Monica Y.:
I’m not drinking and driving.Police Officer:
Okay.Monica Y.:
Seriously.Police Officer:
Well then once we do the breath test, it’ll show.Monica Y.:
I fight for you guys every time I get to. Seriously.
Here’s the thing. This Republican state law maker from New Mexico, Monica Youngblood is her name, she broke the law. It doesn’t matter if you go out there and sponsor legislation to give people the death penalty if they kill police officers or if you sponsor legislation to make DUI penalties even harsher, which she did. You broke the law, you deal with the consequences. Not only did you put your own life in danger, you endangered the lives of everybody else on the road that you traveled, and as somebody who has lost multiple friends to drunk drivers, I can tell you that this is not something that anyone should have any sympathy for this woman over. The only person, or should I say creature, that we should have sympathy for, is the dog that she left in her car and decided to drive around drunk with.
But I do have to add this. The police officer in this video is an example of what every police officer in this country should be doing during traffic stops, regardless of the person’s race, sexual orientation, gender, anything. This guy did it perfectly. If we had more police officers like this, we wouldn’t be seeing the horrible stories that we see every day on the news. He was calm, he was respectful, he was by the book, he did his job and he moved on. That’s how it’s supposed to be. So kudos to this police officer for not giving into this woman’s request to let her off the hook for endangering everybody in that area. More cops should be like that and we should have fewer law makers out there like Monica Youngblood.
