FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Police body cameras were rolling, as were cellphones, when a woman was detained following a racist rant inside a South Florida Walgreens.
Fort Lauderdale police officers were called to the Walgreens located on Southeast 17th Street following a very heated confrontation between customers, News 6 partner Local 10 News reports.
[TRENDING: Hilarious: Women try to get baby gator out of house | Disney changes ‘look’ for cast members | Meteor lights up Fla. sky]
The woman seen on cellphone video and body camera footage going on the racist rant is Luba Bozanich.
Last month, Nahla Ebaid, her husband and a group of friends were in town for spring break.
They were checking out at the Walgreens when Bozanich walked in without a mask. An employee asked her to put one on and that’s when Ebaid said Bozanich started yelling and ranting about Muslims.
Ebaid pulled out her phone and started recording after that.
“She looked at us and she said, ‘I wish I was from your country, so I don’t have to wear the mask,’” Ebaid said. “So, we said, ‘Which country is that? We’re from New York.’”
The video shows Bozanich using a racial slur and making a comment about Ebaid’s hijab.
“Get out of my face, get out of my face,” Bozanich said. “You want me to spit on you again? Want me to spit on you, ugly (expletive)?”
The newly released body camera video shows Bozanich arguing with officers.
“He verbally abused me first,” she said.
“Well, that doesn’t give you the right to spit on him. You verbally abused me as soon as I got here, did I spit on you?” the officer replied.
She called another officer rude and yelled at him.
“All you’re doing now is instigating everything,” the officer said.
“Quit yelling at me,” Bozanich said. “Don’t you know how to talk to a woman?”
Bozanich told Local 10 News she regrets what she said but felt she had been provoked by the couple.
“When this guy said what he said to me, I said what I said to him and I got angry,” Bozanich said. “I did what I did. I apologized and I’d like to move on.”
The body camera footage showed Bozanich apologizing, saying she’s “not a racist” and telling the couple, “God bless you.”
“Yeah, God bless them because if it was up to me, you’d be going to jail,” an officer said.
She also repeatedly claimed to be a Christian and a doctor. Her Facebook page says she’s a therapist.
The footage ends with Bozanich storming off after the handcuffs are removed. As she’s leaving, she gets one last word in.
“Thank God for President Trump,” she said.
Use the form below to sign up for the ClickOrlando.com Strange Florida newsletter, sent every Friday.