The woman who on Sunday hurled a racist insult and made derogatory comments to a Latino man — and attempted to smack a cell phone out of his hands — could face criminal charges.
The Santa Barbara Police Department on Wednesday announced that, following its investigation, it had referred the case to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
The woman, Jeanne Umana, could be charged with trespassing, battery on a person, and a hate crime, according to Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale.
Umana was caught on video telling construction worker Luis Cervantes: “I live here, I am an American, you’re a Tijuanan.”
Umana had walked onto a property without permission and when she was confronted by Cervantes about what she was doing there, responded, “I work for the police.”
However, Umana has no affiliation with the Police Department.
From there, the incident escalated.
“I have a right to find out who my neighbors are because I live here, you don’t.”
Cervantes responds, “You don’t have permission to be on private property,” and she turns around and smugly says, “Oh, arrest me.”
Later she tells him, “I am very much against people who break our laws,” before attempting to smack the man’s phone out of his hand.
The video was shared by civil rights activist Edin Alex Enamorado, a popular social media personality and advocate for street vendors based out of Los Angeles, with more than 257,000 followers on Instagram.
Enamorado called in to Tuesday’s Santa Barbara City Council meeting to make a comment about the situation.
“City Council, I am asking you to apply pressure on the DA and the Police Department to arrest Jeanne Umana for her hate crime, assault, breaking and entering, impersonating a police officer,” Enamorado said.
“In the statement that Santa Barbara PD release, they admitted that she impersonated a police officer, so why has she not been arrested?”
After the video went viral, a large crowd gathered outside Umana’s home and in front of the police station to call attention to the situation.
The District Attorney’s Office will review the Police Department’s recommendation and decide what charges, if any, to file against Umana.