Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor has been positioned on administrative go away following a visitors cease the place she flashed her badge to a Florida county sheriff’s deputy in November, town’s mayor Jane Castor introduced Friday.
Neighborhood members are criticizing O’Connor, who was picked for the function in February, after she instructed the deputy about her place and that she hoped they’d “simply let” her and her husband Keith go from the visitors cease, the Tampa Bay Occasions reported.
Physique digital camera footage reveals Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy Larry Jacoby asking the 2 why they had been driving in a golf cart with no license plate earlier than she confirmed the deputy her badge.
“I’m the police chief in Tampa… I’m hoping that you just’ll simply allow us to go tonight,” O’Connor mentioned.
She later handed over a enterprise card to the deputy and mentioned “you ever want something, name me.”
The deputy later let the pair go with out handing them a ticket.
You possibly can watch a clip of the cease under.
O’Connor can be on go away as town awaits the outcomes of an investigation into the cease, in line with Castor.
Assistant Chief Lee Bercaw will fill O’Connor’s function and function performing chief within the meantime.
O’Connor, who apologized to Castor and Tampa residents, mentioned her dealing with of the matter could possibly be considered as “inappropriate.”
“I knew my dialog was on video, and my motive was to not put the deputy in an uncomfortable place,” mentioned O’Connor in a information launch related to the go away announcement.
“I’ve personally known as the Pinellas County Sheriff providing to pay for any potential quotation.”
Hillsborough County NAACP president Yvette Lewis mentioned O’Connor’s badge-flashing reveals how regulation enforcement take care of each other and switch a blind eye, the Tampa Bay Occasions reported.
“But when it’s in your law-enforcement household, they don’t see and say one thing,” Lewis mentioned. “They see one thing and shut their mouths and stroll away.”
Castor mentioned that town’s holds “everybody accountable, regardless of their place, and this conduct was unacceptable” and added that O’Connor “will undergo the due course of and face acceptable self-discipline.”