Holly MatkinFort Lauderdale, FL – Pompano Beach Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins berated a Fort Lauderdale police officer during a traffic stop in April after she was pulled over for going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit (video below).
The entitled political leader was traveling 60 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone when she was stopped by the Ft. Lauderdale police officer back in April, WTVJ reported.
Recently-released bodycam footage of the encounter quickly went viral.
The video showed the officer asking Perkins to keep her hands outside her window as he approached her vehicle.
“What’s going on tonight?” he asked.
“Nothing,” the Pompano Beach vice mayor responded.
The officer told Perkins she had been “driving crazy” by speeding through two different speed zones just prior to the traffic stop.
She handed over her license and registration information and the officer returned a moment later to give her a warning, the video showed.
“Ms. Perkins, you need to slow down, okay?” he said. “There’s going to be a warning that’s just going to say I warned you tonight about speeding, okay?”
Perkins refused to acknowledge him and did not respond, the video showed.
“Did you hear what I said?” the officer asked her.
Perkins then placed her left hand near her ear and looked straight ahead.
“Did you hear what I said?” he asked again, at which point Perkins finally looked at him. “You need to slow down. I’m writing you a warning for speeding tonight, okay?”
When Perkins still didn’t respond, the officer began walking away, the video showed.
But the vice mayor then yelled out of her window, asking him for his name.
He identified himself, at which point Perkins declared she is vice mayor of Pompano Beach.
“I am Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins from the city of Pompano Beach,” Perkins retorted. “Y’all need to find something better to f—ing do.”
She then sped away, briefly screeching her tires in the process, the video showed.
The City of Pompano Beach has refused to comment on the bodycam footage and said it does not involve itself in the private lives of elected officials, WTVJ reported.
Perkins also refused to comment, according to the news outlet.
The Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) called the vice mayor out in a tweet on July 8.
“Vice Mayor Perkins, as an elected official, you too are held to a higher standard and should know better,” the union said. “#FLPD Officer deserves an apology. If that is not something you can bring yourself to do, we suggest you obey the speed limit & seek anger management.”
The FOP also encouraged Perkins to “sign up for some ride alongs” to witness first-hand what the “hard-working” Fort Lauderdale police officers “do every day to protect” the city’s citizens, according to a Facebook post on the police union’s page.
“Furthermore, we would like to commend the #FLPD Officer for his professionalism and dedication to duty in keeping our community safe,” the FOP added.
Perkins is up for re-election in November, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Obscene Language:
