A Florida Democratic politician cursed a police officer and sped away after being pulled over for speeding in a newly released police video.
Beverly Perkins, the vice mayor of Pompano Beach, snapped after being stopped for speeding in Fort Lauderdale in April. In the video, the officer tells her she’s “driving crazy” and that he is going to issue her a warning. But the entitled official isn’t having it.
“I am Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins from the city of Pompano Beach. Y’all need to find something better to f***ing do,” Perkins says as she speeds off in her white Audi.
WARNING: Graphic Language
Before Perkins takes off, the unidentified police officer is unfailingly professional, but to no avail.
“What’s going on tonight?” the officer says at first as he approaches Perkins’s window.
“Nothing? You’re driving crazy,” the officer replies.
The officer tells Perkins she was speeding and asks for her driver’s license. When he returns from his squad car, he offers the sullen driver a break.
“Ms. Perkins, you need to slow down, OK? There’s going to be… a warning about speeding, OK?” he says. “Did you hear what I said?”
Perkins sits impassively in her seat.
“Did you hear what I said?” the officer says. “You’ve got to slow down. I’m writing you a warning for speeding tonight, OK?”
After the video was released, Perkins issued a half-hearted apology at a city commission meeting, according to WPLG Local 10.
“If any exchange on my part, the conversation with the police officer, is perceived as being disrespectful, then I do apologize,” she said.
Barbara Stern, an attorney for the Fort Lauderdale police union, criticized Perkins at the meeting.
“You were not gracious. You were not apologetic,” Stern said. “You were rude, unprofessional and disrespectful.”
In a Facebook post, the Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 31 advised Perkins to stop driving like a maniac and seek anger management counseling.
“Madam Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins, instead of attacking the hard-working Fort Lauderdale Police Department Officers and resorting to using profanity, we suggest you apologize and then sign up for some ride alongs to see what they do every day to protect the citizens of our great city,” the post said.