SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio Police Department officer was suspended 30 days after she was accused in March of causing a drunken disturbance at a real estate awards show where she had been hired to perform as a DJ.
Officer Kristie Bush, who told officers she plays music at events off duty as DJ Kristie Rose, was originally handed a contemplated 45-day suspension in August, city discipline records show.
The suspension was later shortened to 30 days after Bush met with SAPD Chief William McManus.
The March 16 incident at the University of the Incarnate Word’s Rosenberg Sky Room caused officers from UIW PD and later SAPD to respond to the scene.
UIW PD released an incident report and 11.5 hours of body-worn camera footage from the incident following a public records request from KSAT earlier this month.
‘I’m not going to stand here and look like a f***ing criminal’
Attendees of the gala told police Bush loudly interrupted the host of the event while he was giving a speech on stage.
While describing the disturbance, a UIW officer was recorded on his body-worm camera saying Bush had cursed loudly and yelled, “Let’s f***ing party!”
A woman attending the event was seen on a body-worn camera telling Bush, “I also knew you were sitting next to my son and you were super drunk and loud.”
Bush, 32, who was hired by the owner of a realty company to play music from 10 p.m. to midnight, told officers she had played some music as attendees arrived for the awards show hours earlier.
In the footage, she repeatedly complained that she had not been paid and that her contract stipulated that she receive payment before beginning her set.
“Let me just ask her one thing. Do you think I can run an event like this and not be able to pay you?” the event host asked Bush.
A second off-duty SAPD officer, Jonathan Kavanagh, was escorted out of the venue by UIW police after a heated confrontation between him, the event host and a friend of the host who told police he had been sent over to see if Bush was in the proper condition to perform as a DJ.
The footage shows Kavanagh being pulled away from the two men as the host told Kavanagh to get his hand out of his face.
SAPD officials this month confirmed Kavanagh was not disciplined over the incident.
Reached by phone, the host of the event told KSAT 350 people were in attendance and that Bush had become clearly inebriated while waiting to perform her set.
He said he had been contacted by an SAPD internal affairs investigator late this summer to give a statement, but had not been made aware that Bush was suspended for the incident.
Bush told officers she had two alcoholic beverages, then said she had one, then said she had “one wine” but had not finished the drink, according to the footage.
Multiple UIW officers remarked in the footage that Bush had bloodshot eyes and was slurring her speech.
Several gala attendees told police Bush appeared to be intoxicated, according to the footage.
While waiting for SAPD supervisors to arrive at the venue, Bush argued with UIW police as they refused to let her briefly go to her vehicle.
“This is not worth my career. All I want to do is go hit my vape. It’s not worth anything. I just want to go downstairs, go to my truck, hit my vape. Can I please go hit my vape?” asked Bush.
After a UIW PD supervisor told Bush “nope,” Bush replied, “Why? I didn’t cause a disturbance. It’s not a felony.”
The supervisor then told Bush the incident had become a disturbance.
“I’m not going to stand here and look like a f***ing criminal. You’re right. You made a perfectly good example. And this is why we should just f***ing do on-duty and risk our lives instead of doing four hours of f***ing,” said Bush before ending her comments and taking a seat near the venue’s entrance.
Bush was then questioned by an SAPD sergeant in a back hallway of the venue, the footage shows.
Bush’s SAPD discipline paperwork states that after a female SAPD officer arrived at the scene with a cadet, Bush asked the cadet, “What the f*** are you looking at?”
No one was criminally charged following the gala incident and it did not result in a criminal complaint being filed, records show.
Bush eventually left the venue without performing her set, the footage shows.
Kavanagh was eventually allowed to come back inside the venue, with a police escort, to break down Bush’s DJ equipment.
Bush was suspended for rules violations including use of intoxicants, being discourteous to the public/fellow employee, conduct prejudicial to good order and being unfit to report for duty, city discipline records show.
Bush did not respond to a phone call from KSAT seeking comment for this story.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.