'Call me a n*gger': Small-town mayor insults cops after drunk driving stop

Police in Monticello, New York have released footage of the town's mayor cursing and threatening officers after getting arrested on drunk driving charges.

WCBS-TV reported that the footage captures Mayor Gordon Jenkins after his arrest on Nov. 16, telling an officer not to call him "sir." When the officer asks if calling him "Mayor" would be better, Jenkins refused that as well, before suggesting his arrest was racially motivated.

"Don't call me mayor," Jenkins is seen telling the officer while handcuffed to a wall. "Call me ni*ger, because that's what I am when I'm right here in handcuffs. But you know something? I don't give a f*ck."

Jenkins was reportedly arrested at the scene of an auto accident in which he was not involved, when a volunteer firefighter called police, saying he thought Jenkins looked drunk. Jenkins refused to take a Breathalyzer test and was also charged with obstruction of justice and criminal mischief.

The Middletown Times Herald-Recordreported on Nov. 19 that Jenkins pleaded not guilty to all three charges and was released on $2,500 bail. It was the third time he has been arrested since being elected in 2008. He was also arrested in April 2011 and pled guilty to charges of selling bootleg Nike shoes and DVDs from his local business, and in July 2012 for allegedly hitting an officer while fighting another man outside his store.

Jenkins' attorney, Michael Sussman, told WCBS that the arrest is part of a longstanding feud between Jenkins and the department.

"People in Monticello who form his base have suffered indignities at the hands of the same police officers," Sussman said to WCBS. "They understand what he was saying."

However, John Riegler, head of the Monticello Policemen's Benevolent Association, countered that handcuffing Jenkins to a wall did not deviate from the department's standard procedure.

"The way he was acting, how intoxicated he was, he was treated the way everybody else was treated," Riegler told WCBS.

At one point, Jenkins is seen ripping a clock off the wall and throwing it out of the interrogation room, later saying he did it because an officer did not respond to him.

"He needs help. He really needs help," said village trustee Carmen Rue, who filed the request for police to release the footage of Jenkins' actions. "He needs to step down for the good of the community."

Watch WCBS' report on Jenkins' arrest, aired on Sunday, below.

And watch raw footage, posted online on Sunday, below.

[h/t Mediaite]