White woman is arrested for abusing two Mexican shoppers for speaking Spanish in a grocery store, demanding they learn English because ‘you’re in my country’ – Linda Dwire justified her actions, ‘It’s not about the race, but a “patriotic thing”‘
Colorado resident Linda Dwire has been charged with two counts of bias-motivated harassment after she was filmed hassling the two women after asking if they lived in the US
Dwire who is white was arrested for hurling abuse at two Mexican shoppers for speaking Spanish in a grocery store and demanding they learn English because ‘you’re in my country’
The 64-year-old was booked into jail after flew into a rage, berating Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin in the aisle of a City Market in Rifle, Colorado
The two women were complete strangers to Dwire
Bystander Kamira Trent then intervened and told her to stop berating the pair
Trent threatened to call the cops and told Dwire to get out of the store
After Dwire was arrested, she insisted her outburst was nothing to do with race, but was a ‘patriotic thing‘
Language bully: Linda Dwire [left] was harassing two women for speaking Spanish in a grocery store in Colorado, then this woman, later identified as Kamira Trent [right], stepped in to cut her short
A white woman who was arrested for harassing two Mexican shoppers for speaking Spanish inside a Colorado grocery store has been identified.
Linda Dwire, 64, was booked into Garfield County Jail on Monday night and charged with two counts of bias-motivated harassment after shocking video of the confrontation surfaced.
The footage shows her lecturing Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin in the aisle of a City Market in Rifle after asking if they lived in the US.
She kept berating the pair and insisted they should be speaking English until Kamira Trent rushed to their defense and told the her to stop, or she would call the cops.
‘You don’t harass people,’ Trent can be heard saying. ‘Get out of here! Now!’
The clip shows Dwire [photo], confronting Good Samaritan Kamira Trent, who stepped in when she overheard the confrontation
The clip showing Trent intervening has gone viral, with more than 800,000 people view on Facebook as of Friday afternoon.
Dwire has since been released from jail and is due back in court in November.
Velasquez told BuzzFeed News that the confrontation began when Dwire interrupted their conversation and told them they needed to learn English.
‘You’re in America. You’re in my country. You can’t speak Spanish here. You need to speak English if you’re going to be in America,’ she told the pair.
Velasquez, who has been in the US for eight years, was in the market with her son and two daughters.
She said Dwire kept wagging her finger in their faces until Trent stepped in.
After Trent threatened to call the cops, Dwire says: ‘You come from a generation that’s destroying this country.
Cranky: After her antics went viral, Dwire was booked into Garfield County Jail, Colorado, on Monday night and charged with two counts of bias-motivated harassment .
‘No I do not. I have respect. You do not harass people,’ Trent says in response.
‘You will lose your country. You know what, you will lose this country,’ Dwire adds.
‘You do not harass Hispanic women!’ Trent is then heard saying while walking out of the store.
Trent told BuzzFeed that she decided to intervene when she saw Dwire wasn’t going to leave the helpless women alone.
Coming to the rescue: ‘You don’t harass people,’ Trent can be heard saying in the clip. ‘Hey, get out of here! Now!’ ‘You do not harass Hispanic women!’ Trent is then heard saying while walking out of the store
Dwire defended her right to freedom of speech when she was asked for her take on the incident by the cops who arrested her.
She told one officer the pair ‘didn’t have the respect to speak English,’ and she was offended they were speaking Spanish in the store.
She told BuzzFeed: ‘It has nothing to do with race. It’s a patriotic thing,’ Dwire said. ‘When people come to my country, they need to love it enough to speak English.’
Dwire was criticized on social media and dubbed a ‘racist; but many others praised Trent for her actions.
One person said: ‘Thank you for this young lady with such a caring heart’.
Taken into custody and interviewed after berating two Mexican women for speaking Spanish in a store, self-appointed language Ombudsman, Dwire, seen in her mugshot [photo L-R], defended her right to freedom of speech when cops asked her what happened
Leave a Reply