Black driver calls LA Latino cop 'murderer' in SHOCKING racist rant at traffic stop: 'You'll never be White'
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin obtained a rather shocking traffic stop interaction between a cop and a female driver and had it shown on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' on Monday, May 3. In the video, a female driver, driving a Mercedes-Benz, was seen verbally attacking a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy with racial slurs during a routine traffic stop in San Dimas, California.
This is one of the latest incidents of troubled interaction between the cops and public and an example of anti-cop sentiment which has come to the fore even more since last month post Derek Chauvin's trial in George Floyd's murder, Daunte Wright's shooting by a cop, Ma'Khia Bryant's death and more. The bodycam video of the April 23 incident in San Dimas surfaced on Monday, May 3. In this particular incident, a Hispanic officer pulled over a Black woman driver who he claimed was using her cell phone while driving, reports Daily Mail. Talking to Fox News, reporter Melugin relayed that the officer said that he recorded the interaction on both his official department-issued bodycam and a personal one he bought to "protect himself from false allegations" during a time when the public continues to demonize the police forces in the United States.
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Driver records the policeman
The incident occurred on April 23 during what the LA County Sheriff's deputy thought was an average traffic stop, Fox News reported. The woman at the wheel, who appeared to be using her cell phone while driving began to berate the police officer and began to oppose him when he asked her to pull over. "Can you tell me why I’m being harassed today? Because I was going under the speed limit?" she is heard asking him. ‘"The speed limit is 40 and I was going 38, so why are you harassing me?’ the woman asked the sheriff’s deputy again. "You’re correct," the deputy is heard responding. "I pulled you over because…"
NEW: "You're always gonna be a Mexican, you'll never be white, you know that?"
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 3, 2021
A Latino LASD deputy sent me his bodycam video of a woman claiming to be a teacher launching into a racist tirade against him when he pulled her over in San Dimas. She repeatedly calls him a murderer. pic.twitter.com/Cc8jSVenCQ
As the unidentified officer approached the window, the driver is seen beginning to record him on her cell phone, before saying, "I started to record because you’re a murderer."
"You can’t be on your cell phone while driving," the deputy is heard telling the woman. She says she was using her phone to record the policeman since she was "scared" of him, adding she was scared that he would murder her.
'I am perfectly legal'
As the officer stated that the woman "can't be on her mobile phone when driving" and asks to see her identification, the driver responded, "It's at my place, and I am perfectly legal and a teacher."
"You're a murderer", she is heard saying again. In the interaction she is often heard saying 'you are a murderer' to the cop. When the deputy asked the woman if the Mercedes-Benz she was driving belonged to her, she replied: "Yes, it is. Are you trying to say I stole my own car because you’re jealous?" "Is that what that’s about?"
When the woman called the officer a "Mexican racist," the situation became heated. "You are always going to be a Mexican," she is heard saying. "You will never be White. You know that, right?" Referring to the exchange, Melugin said it was a "grade A example of the kind of animosity that some of the officers out there are encountering on the streets." The video ends with the woman saying: "You want to be white so badly."
'Bigotry, racism comes in all colors'
Sheriff Alex Villanueva of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told Fox News that he was "appalled" by what he saw in the video, but praised his deputy for being professional. "She claims to be a teacher. I'm not so sure where she is teaching... but if she represents her profession, is that an indictment on her profession and the caliber of people?" Villanueva said.
"You have one incident like George Floyd....but some people want to label the entire profession as if everyone was a Derek Chauvin. It shows you that bigotry, racism comes in all, colors and all ages -- that's proof of that right there. If you want to call all of the deputies murderers, unfortunately, you are doing the exact same thing you're accusing other people of doing against your own kind," he added.
According to the LA County Sheriff's Department, the woman in the video immediately contacted internal affairs and lodged a harassment lawsuit against the officer. The woman has a history of making false accusations against deputies, according to the department. The woman has been identified by Fox News, but she is yet to respond or comment on the matter.