SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Santa Fe Sheriff’s deputies say a New Mexico man who didn’t want to accept he was being arrested for drinking and driving tried to buy his way out of his cuffs. Now, new video shows what happened when he attempted to sweet talk a Santa Fe Sheriff’s deputy.
Earlier this month, Santa Fe Sheriff’s deputies say Phillip Quintana was driving 72 mph in a 35 mph zone. But when the deputy approached the car, he noticed Quintana switching seats with his passenger. Quintana denied it.
Deputy: “Who was driving?”
Quintana: “She was driving when we came down.”
Deputy: “Try again, bro. Who was driving?”
Quintana: “She was driving.”
But when the deputy asked the passenger, she confirmed what the deputy saw.
Deputy: “Be honest with me, was he driving?”
Passenger: *Nodding*
Deputy: “He was? Okay.”
After trying to get Quintana to tell the truth, he begrudgingly admitted wrongdoing.
Quintana: “All right, I was driving.”
Deputy: “Are you just saying that?”
Quintana: “I’m just saying that because f***, that’s what you want to hear.”
He also admitted to drinking alcohol earlier in the night.
Deputy: “How much did you have to drink?”
Quintana: “I drank like, three, four, five beers.”
After refusing to do the breath and sobriety tests, the deputy arrested Quintana. But he didn’t go without a fight, even offering a hefty sum of cash to the deputy.
Quintana: “I can make your life so much better.”
Deputy: “Get in the car, dude.”
Quintana: “I’ll give you 10-grand.”
Deputy: “No, dude. No, no, no. Don’t even start with that. It’s going to get worse. Don’t even start with that.”
As the deputy tried to tell him he was being arrested for DWI, Quintana kept interrupting.
Quintana: “I hear you, but I wasn’t driving. I don’t give a f*** what you say.”
Even though Quintana lied through the entire night, at least he was honest about having the money.
Deputy: “There’s a bag in his car that’s got probably like, I don’t know, [$20,000] in it.”
Deputies found more than 25,000 in that backpack, along with two packages of oxycodone, oxycontin, and cocaine. He now faces three counts of drug charges on top of the DWI and bribery charges.
