Woman Pulls Over Cop for Speeding, Gets Apology
If a police car speeds by, most people wouldn't bat an eye. But one woman decided to uphold the law to chase down and pull over a police officer who she said was driving "recklessly" on the road.
Claudia Castillo, of Miami, recorded the encounter she had with a police officer who she said was speeding, without using lights or sirens, on the Dolphin Expressway in Florida. While the date that the incident occurred is unclear, the video was posted on Jan. 29.
In the video, she narrates her effort to track down this officer and get him to pull over. She explains how the officer was “going about 100 miles an hour,” because she could not catch up to him while she “pushed the limit” and was going 80 mph. The maximum speed limit on the Dolphin Expressway is 70 mph.
Castillo recorded the take-down in three different parts. In the first video, she explains how she started to follow the officer on Miller Drive where he first sped onto the Palmetto Expressway. Her face is never seen in the video, but she does state that her phone was fixed to something in the car while she was driving.
She honked and flashed her lights, trying to get the officer to pull over. Even as the officer kept driving on, Castillo was persistent and continued to film another video to make sure this officer knew that “nobody’s above the law.”
She was following the officer for at least 3 minutes, and even before she started recording as she stated in the video, and was finally able to pull him over at the end of an exit ramp off the expressway.
As the officer comes to her car in the final video, Castillo roles down her window and gives a lecture on safe driving to the officer, completely reversing the typical assumed roles in the situation.
“The reason I pulled you over today,” Castillo began much like many statements given by officers, “is because I saw you since Miller Drive when you were first jumping onto the Palmetto, and you were pushing 90 miles an hour.”
“Really? OK,” the officer, who remained unnamed in the video, said to Castillo, who then asked him what the emergency was that he was driving so fast and "recklessly."
“I don’t know how fast I was going,” said the officer, “I’m on my way to work right now.”
The officer continued by denying that he was speeding and told Castillo “you’re entitled to your opinion.” He told Castillo he pulled over because he thought she had an emergency.
“Everything’s fine,” Castillo said. “It’s your speeding,” to which the officer apologized and said he would slow down.
The acting director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Juan Perez, released a statement today saying “We take all complaints seriously. In this case, the officer’s chain of command will investigate the matter and take the appropriate course of action.”
Castillo said police officers "need to lead by example. You need to show what’s the right thing to do.”
Castillo could not be reached for further comment by ABC News.
No comments:
Post a Comment