What happens when you pull over a police officer?
A Florida woman recently filmed a motorist she believed to be speeding and pulled him over, even though that motorist was a police officer.
A police officer in Florida is pulled over by a concerned civilian after she claimed he was speeding and driving recklessly.
Claudia Castillo
A Florida woman recently took the law into her own hands after seeing a police officer driving over the speed limit on a Miami-area highway, she said.
The woman posted three videos to YouTube of her experience which detail her trailing of an officer鈥檚 cruiser. She said she believed the officer was speeding and driving recklessly.
鈥淭o keep up with him I鈥檝e had to鈥� push the limit and everything and I actually know he was about going about 100 miles an hour because I was hitting 80 and I could not catch up to him, and he was still leaving me behind,鈥� the woman said in the .
鈥淚 was able to get up to him and honked and flashed my lights to ask him to pull over, and he鈥� I don鈥檛 know if he ignored me or anything, but he鈥檚 been, you know, driving recklessly and pushing 100, you know, 80 to 100 miles an hour, you know, throughout the highways,鈥� she said in the video.
The woman never personally identifies herself or shows her face on camera, but the name of the YouTube account where the videos were posted is displayed as Claudia Castillo. The first video shows her following the officer, the second continues and eventually shows her , while the third video shows her while both are parked.
None of the three videos show evidence of the alleged violation, and the woman claims the officer was speeding before she could begin filming.
鈥淛ust troublesome, you know, to see,鈥� she said in the second recording. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure he鈥檚 a good guy but, you know, nobody鈥檚 above the law ... You鈥檙e a leader in the community, you need to be an example to the community, you need to, you know, you need to lead by example, you need to show what鈥檚 the right thing to do.鈥�
After getting the officer to pull over at the side of the road, the footage shows the woman explaining the situation to him. The officer then denied speeding.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how fast I was going, but I can tell you this, I鈥檓 on the way to work right now. I don鈥檛 believe I was speeding,鈥� he said.
He went on to ask if the woman had an emergency, to which she replied 鈥淛ust your speeding.鈥�
鈥淚 apologize and I鈥檒l be sure to slow down then,鈥� he said.聽
In a statement, the local police department said it would look into the matter.
鈥淭he Miami-Dade Police Department will have the officer鈥檚 immediate command staff investigate the matter, once the officer and citizen are identified. The appropriate course of action will be taken at that point,鈥� , according to CBS Miami.
The filmed encounter comes at a time when both civilians and police departments are questioning the role that recording devices have in relation to police work. While far from a citizen鈥檚 arrest, the incident highlighted the increased accountability that smartphones and small video cameras are bringing to police departments around the country.
The 鈥淔erguson effect鈥� 鈥� named for the Missouri city that saw continued anti-police protests after a white police officer shot dead an unarmed black man in 2013 鈥� suggests that officers tended to become overly cautious聽as they faced increased public scrutiny, although the concept .
鈥淭his is a very human dilemma, and cellphones aren鈥檛 going to get un-invented,鈥� Drexel University criminology professor Rob Kane told the Monitor in October. 鈥淲e have this technology and now we have to learn to live with it.鈥�