Body camera video of Real Housewives of Potomac, Karen Huger, star released after verdict
By: -----
In a series of wild videos showing the aftermath of her March arrest for driving under the influence, Real Housewives of Potomac star Karen Huger verbally lashed out at first responders, name-dropped Andy Cohen, and identified herself as Thomas Jefferson’s concubine.
The shocking body camera video was made public after a jury convicted Huger Wednesday of DUI, negligent driving, failure to control speed to avoid a collision, and failure to notify authorities of an address change. She was acquitted of reckless driving. The 61-year-old faces two years in prison.
The footage showed the chaotic scene in the immediate aftermath of the crash that happened on March 19 after she drove her white Maserati off the road, across the median, and into a tree. The vehicle was badly damaged and sat crumpled and smoldering in a grassy area along the side of the roadway near Oaklyn Drive in Potomac where the crash happened. Huger could be seen swaying on her feet and refusing treatment from medical personnel. She eventually made her way to a waiting ambulance.
Thomas Jefferson’s concubine
Huger repeatedly slurred her speech and refused a breathalyzer. "What is your point?" she asked an officer who was questioning her about the crash before she declined to take a field sobriety test.
Police repeatedly asked Huger if she had been drinking. At one point during the exchange, Karen Huger’s husband, Raymond, who arrived shortly after the crash, attempted to help his wife communicate with officers. "I’m saying that you probably had a couple of beers, and you were coming back, and you said that you got run off the road," he told police as he tried to locate his wife’s license. She was eventually seen being arrested and placed in handcuffs.
"Do you know who I am?"
In a second set of unusual videos that shows Huger being transported, she repeatedly asks for tissues as the officer drives her to the police station. During the drive, she admits that she should have taken a cab instead of getting behind the wheel and asks the officer if he is having fun. In a particularly bizarre exchange, Huger tells the officer that Andy Cohen gave her the moniker, "Grand Dame," and that she is "Thomas Jefferson's concubine." The police dash cam captured Huger muttering expletives and telling the officer, "You know I hate you, right?" before being escorted out of the vehicle. "Do you know who I am?" she asked the officer when she got out. "I don’t," the officer responded.
Video then shows Huger stumbling from the patrol vehicle after losing her balance and slurring, "I’m lit." "You are lit," the officer replied. "That’s why you’re here."
After she was escorted into the station, Huger’s peculiar behavior continued as the officer tried to explain the booking process and started an automated program to explain the paperwork she was given to read. She repeatedly asked the officer to close the audio and again declared herself to be the third president’s concubine.
Huger’s defense argued that her bizarre behavior was a result of her becoming emotionally distressed following the crash. Prosecutors maintained that Huger’s actions clearly demonstrated signs of intoxication. Her sentencing on January 29 will determine whether she faces jail time or other penalties for the convictions.