Wow. Just wow. Tuesday’s Pompano Beach Commission meeting vaulted the city into the Broward Circus Hall of Shame. Television crews, first responders and concerned residents were on hand to see if Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins would finally address her rude behavior toward two Fort Lauderdale Police officers.
She did, sort of.
Perkins delivered an error filled 46 second non-apology apology. Perkins claimed she received a verbal warning.
Wrong.
In the body camera footage posted by REDBROWARD last week, the police officer clearly states he is giving Perkins a written warning instead of a ticket. An angry Perkins drove off before he could write it.
Barbara Stern, the attorney for the Fort Lauderdale FOP, shed light on the second body camera footage posted by REDBROWARD earlier today. When Perkins addressed the second officer on the scene, some of her comments were inaudible. Stern told the Pompano Beach Commissioners that Perkins said her telephone had “high ranking BSO officials on speed dial.” Stern said Perkins’ comments were an attempt to intimidate the officers.
After Stern finished speaking, a Perkins supporter told her to “sit your white ass down.”
Another Perkins supporter was ejected by BSO deputies after he repeatedly disrupted the meeting.
Beverly Perkins supporters desperately tried to spin the story as a racist hit job orchestrated by her fellow commissioners.
They questioned why the April 2022 incident was just coming to light now. They questioned if the video was edited to hide rude behavior by the police officers.
A source at the meeting says Perkins is still claiming the video was edited for political reasons.
HOW THE SAUSAGE IS MADE
Since REDBROWARD broke the story, this reporter is able to answer some of these questions.
In late April, a source told REDBROWARD about the Perkins’ traffic stop. The same source told us about a similar incident involving BSO deputies at an early voting location and one embarrassing incident at waterfront restaurant.
On May 5, 2022, a second source gave us the tip about Perkins’ traffic stop.
In mid-May, REDBROWARD made a verbal records request for body camera footage. While attending an out of state funeral in late May, your humble reporter picked up a COVID-like bug. The illness lingered throughout the month of June leaving yours truly less-than-motivated to track down the footage.
On June 27, 2022, REDBROWARD made an official public records request for the footage.
We received the footage from two police body cameras on July 5, 2022 and posted the story the same day.
The footage from each camera was about six minutes long.
REDBROWARD edited the middle part of the first video because nothing happened. The officer returned to his vehicle. The police radio was occasionally heard but the officer said nothing.
In this age of Tik Tok, most readers will not sit through a six minute video.
Here are the complete videos. In both, Beverly Perkins was rude. Her behavior was unprofessional. The two officers were polite and professional. She owes them a real apology.
Judge for yourself.
