The police chief of one of Florida’s largest cities was forced to resign in disgrace after she was caught on camera asking a deputy to ‘let her go’ from a traffic stop.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor announcedon Monday that she has accepted the resignation of Police Chief Mary O’Connor ‘following the completion of an Internal Affairs investigation into a recent traffic stop.’
O’Conner and her husband, Keith, were pulled over by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Jacoby on November 12 at 7.30pm, when they were caught driving a golf cart on a road without a license plate tag.
She tried to pull rank on the deputy, body camera footage from the traffic stop revealed, asking him whether his camera was on before telling Jacoby: ‘I’m the police chief from Tampa… I’m hoping that you’ll just let us go tonight.’
Assistant Police Chief Lee Bercaw will now serve as the interim police chief as the mayor conducts a nationwide search for O’Conner’s replacement.
No, the video does not show her pulling rank on the traffic officer, she merely asked for leniency. There is nothing wrong with that, we all do it, especially before a judge when asking for PBJ. Resigning was definitely a mistake.
One asks for leniency from the judge, not the arresting officer.
At first I thought It might be Mike Lewis on the golf cart ….
telling the officer he is the Sheriff of Wicomico County, a
asking the officer has he seen the Sheriff’s Facebook page…
because Lewis and Todd are IMPOTENT
It’s funny people that who have Golf Carts and don’t Golf think the whole world has just become an RV park or Florida retirement community they can drive around in. Get a bicycle fat asses.
It was two mature adults riding in a golf cart. Not really worth quitting a job over. The cop may have not even given the driver a ticket. The LEO in Salisbury let thugs freely ride untagged and uninsured dirt bikes and 4 wheelers through town on Rt 50 in heavy traffic. Is riding a golf cart on lightly traveled road that much of a crime? I think not and say the Chief made a terrible choice in resigning so easily without letting justice take its course.
Her resignation was appropriate.
The deputy was not her employee but she asked him if his camera was on before identifying herself and producing her badge. She was able to formulate her approach after learning the camera was on. In November, at 7:30 pm, it is dark and most golf carts don’t have lights like cars. She and her husband were coming, per them, from a restaurant; perhaps they’d been drinking, or not. But they chose not to drive a car and must have known the golf cart on the road was not permissible at all.
Ultimately, her resignation was requested after an investigation. Those involved in the investigation obviously had a more comprehensive view of golf cart driving issues and why folks would use a cart instead of their car.