SURFSIDE, Fla. – Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett has raised some questions after posting a video of himself interrupting a police officer’s traffic stop.
The June 3 traffic stop was pretty standard until a red car drove up alongside the scene.
Burkett parked his car further up the road and walked back to the stop.
The officer did not why the mayor was there, or that he and the driver were friends.
“The first thing out of his mouth is ‘You don’t have to talk to the mayor of Surfside if you don’t want to’ and that kind of was the start,” Burkett told Local 10 News.
It was the start of the latest big drama in the seaside town, where Burkett is focused on changes in the police department, including officers’ demeanor.
“I was going to stop you to tell you thank you for patrolling, but you seem to have a little attitude,” Burkett told the officer during the stop.
“An attitude?” the officer asked.
Burkett then turned to his friend who had been pulled over and asked, “Did you notice that he has an attitude?”
The mayor obtained the body camera footage himself and posted it on social media.
A roster of residents commented on his post. Many thought he was out of line.
Surfside’s new police chief, Henry Doce, who was hired by Burkett, watched the footage and felt his officer did everything right.
“He followed the rules, was professional,” said Doce.
With an eye toward officers’ safety, he cautioned anyone from taking attention away from an officer doing his or her job.
“(The officer) had to disengage from the traffic stop to be able to engage the mayor, to see what was going on,” said Doce.
“I had no intention of interrupting him,” Burkett said. “But I did want to talk to him about the ‘drop dead’ look he gave me.”