ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Video from a police body camera appears to contradict a New Mexico hotel’s story about removing country singer Gretchen Wilson following an alleged noise complaint.
The video obtained by The Associated Press in a public records request shows a confused and angry Wilson in a robe telling police she was asleep as she’s asked to leave around 3 a.m. Oct 13.
The Grammy Award-winning singer told an officer in the video that she did nothing wrong.
“We don’t even have a TV on. We were very quiet,” Wilson said.
But the video shows a television on when police enter her room. Wilson, who sang the 2004 hit song “Redneck Woman,” said she and her fiance were drinking wine and talking softly when the pair started getting phone calls about the volume.
“You must be talking about another room,” she said. “It’s just been a nightmare at this hotel.”
A security guard told police someone reported arguing and a glass breaking. The security guard said Wilson had told the hotel to “call the cops.”
But Wilson said the staff at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces was retaliating against her after she asked for room service and was denied. She said hotel employees only came once to her room.
An employee is then heard telling Wilson the manager decided the singer and her group could stay. But Wilson refused.
“We’re not going to stay. We are not. We have been treated like (expletive) since we’ve been here,” she said.
Heritage Hotels & Resorts, which owns Hotel Encanto, has not responded to phone messages and emails seeking comment.
Las Cruces police spokesman Dan Trujillo said officers were called to the hotel after Wilson, 46, and other guests had “worn out their welcome.”
Wilson, who had performed at the Las Cruces Country Music Festival the night before, said in a statement that she was in bed when the police arrived.
“There had been no party, no music and not even a TV making noise when I was asked to leave,” the statement said. “I was exhausted and upset just like anyone would be in this situation.”
After she was kicked out, the musician tweeted that the hotel asked her to leave “in the middle of the night for no reason.”