Minneapolis woman charged after 2022 racist tirade against Black Uber driver captured on video

A woman has been charged with unleashing a racist tirade toward a Black Uber driver on Hennepin Avenue in south Minneapolis last year.

Jill C. Berquist, 38, of Minneapolis was initially charged in Hennepin County District Court on June 22 with two misdemeanors: falsely reporting a crime — that the driver hit her — and disorderly conduct in connection with the tirade on April 1, 2022, that the driver video-recorded and posted on YouTube.

Warning: Video contains graphic language and racial slurs.

However, an amended charge filed Tuesday by the City Attorney's Office removed the charge of falsely reporting a crime. Unchanged in the amended version is the nearly 500-word explanation for why both counts had been justified. On Wednesday, the City Attorney's Office declined to elaborate on why the false reporting count was dismissed.

Berquist, who was charged by summons after prosecutors learned of the incident on May 16, made her initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon and is due back in court on Sept. 20.

The driver, 47-year-old Wesley Gakuo of St. Paul, told the Star Tribune he never touched Berquist nor ever been subjected to such a racist verbal attack since moving to Minnesota from Kenya in 1999.

Gakuo, who still drives for Uber, said he holds no ill will against Berquist: "I hope she will figure a way for her life."

In an interview Wednesday, Berquist said she never should have uttered the slurs but insisted that the driver struck her and held her down. She sent the Star Tribune photos of what she said were injuries inflicted on her by the driver to her head, knee and a finger.

Berquist's mother said she has watched some of the video online, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times. "She didn't do anything wrong," Julie Berquist said. "He did not take the designated route. He took a longer route."

As for the slurs, the mother said, "She has Black friends. She is not a racist person." She explained that her daughter used that language because she drank too much and has mental difficulties.

The complaint's allegations are largely consistent with Gakuo's video.

"Go to Uptown!" the video captured her screaming with a vulgarity thrown in. Gakuo warned her not to call him that, and she threatened to call police.

After Gakuo got out of the car, Berquist ripped a mounted iPad tablet and threw it out the window. She then exited the car and kept up her profane and racially charged outburst. The video then shifted to Gakuo filming when both were outside his vehicle.

"I'm calling the police; they're going to beat you up," she said.

On the phone with 911 and at times screaming the same racial slur, she said, "He didn't want to take me home. … Please send the police for the Black man who punched me."

As her screams rose in volume, a man marched toward Berquist and shouted, "Get out of my neighborhood! … I'm having you arrested."

She responded, " 'I'm white. I live here. Black people don't live here.' "

Off-camera, someone replied, "Excuse me?"

According to the complaint:

The dispatcher told Berquist to stop using the slur and asked her whether she wanted medical personnel sent. She declined. Officers arrived, and she told them Gakuo struck the left side of her face. However, officers saw no evidence of physical harm.

Officers chose not to cite Gakuo and offered Berquist a ride home. Instead, she chose to walk home around 11 p.m.

Berquist later submitted photos to police that she said involved the incident. She repeated claims the driver punched her and added that he held her down. She said she was hit on the right side of her face — not on the left side as she said earlier — and incorrectly said emergency medical personnel came to her aid.

A review of the officers' body-worn camera recordings revealed no claim of Gakuo holding her down and no presence of emergency medical personnel.