It’s been just over four months since The Real Housewives of New York City star Countess Luann de Lesseps was arrested on Christmas Eve after a drunken altercation with police at a Florida hotel, and we now have video footage of the arrest courtesy of the Palm Beach Police Department.
The video is from the interior police cruiser camera, so we don’t have footage of the alleged assault. In case you missed it, here’s our recap of the events prior to the video footage below:
The incident went down at the Colony hotel in Palm Beach, Florida where Luann had booked room 327. Luann reportedly had some drinks with a man at the Colony hotel bar on Saturday night before the two left together. According to the police report, the two erroneously entered room 407 where a maid was turning down the bed, and elected to stay.
A hotel security guard later arrived at the room and instructed Luann and her date they had to leave, but she refused. The report states that there were “multiple attempts to get both subjects to leave over a five minute period” before police were called…
[The man left and Luann was joined by her friend Julie Olson.] Going by the police report, Julie complied with the officers’ request that they leave the room, but Luann locked herself in the bathroom. Luann remained in the bathroom until officers began to use a key to gain entry, at which point Luann opened the door and allegedly shoved an officer named O’Leary in the chest before slamming the door on him and “striking him in the forehead.”
The video starts with Luann in the back seat of the vehicle, seatbelted in and wearing handcuffs. An officer explains to Luann that she is going to jail while the Countess pleads to have the handcuffs removed. Here’s the clip in two different formats:
Video shows Real Housewives star in cuffs on night of arrest: https://t.co/7G81zKIbfj pic.twitter.com/v9QTI8aMWf
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) April 28, 2018
Luann’s friend Julie Olson talks with an officer, asking how she can help her friend. A female cop explains that Luann attacked a police officer and she is going to jail, then tells Julie who to call to find out when Luann will be released.
At this point in the video, Luann somehow manages to slip out of her handcuffs, and an officer helps her out of the car so he can put them back on. Luann repeatedly asks “Why?” as she appears to squirm. The officer repeatedly responds by telling her to stop resisting.
As Luann is placed back in the car, she yells: “Don’t touch me! I’m going to kill you! I’ll kill you!”
Luann kicks at the officer and he pins her throat with his forearm and tells Luann: “I’m going to hogtie you if you don’t stop. Do you understand what I’m telling you right now?”
That’s pretty much where the clip ends.
Here’s the police report’s of the events captured in the video:
While De Lesseps was in the back of my patrol car, she slipped out of her hand cuffs, and attempted to exit the vehicle. De Lesseps was removed from the back of vehicle so I could re-secure the handcuffs on her wrists. During this time she resisted again by pushing and pulling her arms away from me. As I was placing De Lesseps in the back into the vehicle, she stated “I’m going to f**king kill you,” and tried kicking the door to keep it from closing. De Lesseps had to be physically placed in the seat to secure her seatbelt and close the door. Once De Lesseps was transported back to the Palm Beach Police Department and placed in a holding cell, she stated again that she was “going to f**king kill all of you” to Officer O’Leary and I multiple times.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL COUNTESS LUANN DE LESSEPS ARREST REPORT
Prosecutors later decided to drop three of the felony charges against Luann. But she still faces a felony charge of resisting an officer with violence, as well as misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly intoxication. Luann entered a plea of not guilty and she is scheduled to appear in court on May 25.
I would be shocked if her attorney actually let the case go before a jury, so I imagine we will see some sort of plea deal with the remaining felony count dropped to a lesser misdemeanor. Of course, this is a very high profile case, and Luann did slam an officer’s head in a door — so perhaps a non-felony deal is off the table. I suppose we will all have to stay tuned to find out.
Meanwhile, Luann stirred up a few headlines last week when she was spotted outside the Public Hotel in New York City smoking marijuana. Page Six reached out to Luann for comment, and her rep confirmed that the Countess puffs a little pot now and then.
“Luann smokes occasionally to help with anxiety and pain from her accident,” the rep said.
