A Kenosha woman stands accused of driving under the influence and causing a disturbance in the hospital by shouting racial slurs and making threats to kill a police officer after being in a car crash.
Gabriela Garcia, 27, was charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office with driving under the influence/causing injury, and disorderly conduct. If convicted of both charges, Garcia faces up to one year, nine months in jail and/or fines up to $3,000.
According to the criminal complaint, officers with the Mount Pleasant Police Department were called to a report of a car crash that happened at 1:07 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Washington Avenue and East Frontage Road.
When the officer arrived on the scene, he fount two cars — a Hyundai Sonata and Genesis G70 — that had crashed into one another. The Hyundai had been pushed off of the roadway and came to rest on Washington Avenue near the northbound ramp. The Genesis G70 was several hundred feet north of the Hyundai.
Garcia was still inside the Genesis. Talking on her phone, the car was still running. The radio was playing loudly. And the airbags had deployed. Speaking to Garcia through the passenger-side door, the officer asked her to turn down the radio. Upset, crying and yelling, the officer noted a strong smell of alcohol.
“She crawled through the front of the vehicle and exited through the front passenger door,” according to the criminal complaint. Garcia struggled to maintain her balance and fell to the ground. The officer pleaded with her to get off the ground and walk to his squad car.
Another officer and rescue personnel from the South Shore Fire Department attended to the occupants of the Sonata. They were treated for their injuries at Ascension-All Saints Hospital.
The officer told Garcia to sit in the squad while he continued to investigate the crash, but she was “concerned with making phone calls and refused to get into the back of the squad.”
The officer explained that she would not be allowed to make any phone calls. She then walked away from the officer and he detained her by putting her in handcuffs.
“I’m not even (expletive) black,” she said. A rescue worker approached her to see if she was injured, but she denied having any injuries.
“Garcia then started to throw a temper tantrum because she wasn’t allowed to use her phone,” the complaint reads. “She began screaming at the top of her lungs.”
Another police officer asked her to get into the squad. Refusing, she dropped all of her weight down outside the squad and the officer had to lift her into the back of the squad.
During the investigation, officers determined that she was driving northbound on the US 41 exit ramp, ran through the red light and struck the Sonata.
Garcia refused to do a field sobriety test saying she needed an attorney present. She also denied drinking alcohol, taking medications, using drugs or being diabetic. The officer then arrested her for suspicion of driving while impaired. While the officer read her her rights, she interrupted the officer several times and talked over him. He then asked if she would submit to a blood draw.
“Nope,” she told the officer. “I’m not signing it until my lawyer sees it.”
The officer obtained a warrant for the blood draw at 2:47 a.m.
During the procedure, Garcia stated she was going to have her lawyer kill the officer. She also became “abusive, profane, boisterous and unreasonably loud,” which created a disturbance in the hospital. At one point she said she didn’t care that she hurt the other people in the car because they “didn’t move” out of her way, according to the complaint.
Using racial slurs, she said that one of the people in the other car was pretending to be injured because that’s what “black people do.”
“I think that (racial slur) is probably trying to sue me for hitting… (expletive) him,” she told the officer. “He’s probably on welfare, food stamps, and section 9.”
She then told the officer: “You guys have it all (expletive) backward, I’m an (expletive) Mexican who pays for everything, for everything… and you consider me a criminal, I’ll remember you… I’ll remember you.”
Garcia was released on a $500 bond. Her initial appearance is set for 2:30 p.m. Oct. 24.