A recent traffic stop of a Newburgh City councilman in New York was caught on police body camera, showing the councilman telling the cops to “get the f*ck out of my face” after they told him to move his car from the middle of the street.
Newburgh City Councilman Omari Shakur has since apologized but says we need to see what took place before the video starts rolling.
“Before the video footage there was approximately 15 minutes of an unrecorded interaction with an undercover officer during which I was subjected to direct and personal harassment that were deeply disrespectful to me, my deceased son and my family,” according to his “apology to the residents of our city for the way I responded in a recent police encounter” which he posted on Facebook
The video which was recorded on Newburgh police officer Ricardo Rivera’s body camera on February 18 and leaked to the media begins with officers already at Shakur SUVs door asking for his license.
The initial officer on scene tells Rivera that he had honked his horn to have Shakur move his SUV because it was sitting in the middle of the road parked.
“I’m not giving you nothing, so fucking arrest me,” Shakur responds.
Officers tell Shakur that what he has done so far is not an arrestable offense.
“So, get the fuck out of my face,” Shakur says.
The officer tells him that is not how it works.
“I’m your fucking boss,” Shakur tells the officers.
The officer responds by telling him he is not his boss, that Chief Solomon is his boss.
Shakur decides to make a phone call, to an unknown person, telling them to come get the officers and that he is going to pull off.
He is promptly told by officers not to pull off.
“It’s going to be a mother fucking mistake, if you don’t get out of my face,” Shakur tells the officers before hanging up.
The officers ask Shakur if the SUV he is driving is registered to him and he tells the officers that it is.
Officers are told over radio that the car came back not registered to him, to which he changes his story saying the car is registered to his girlfriend.
The officer’s try once more to get his license and it was met with the same response to arrest him.
The initial officer then says he is going to write Shakur the ticket without his license a minute and a half into the footage.
Officer Rivera and Shakur continue going back and forth requesting his license and him refusing.
Shakur calls his girlfriend to tell her to come get her car as he is about to be arrested.
“Nobody is arresting you; you’re going to bring the arrest on yourself,” the officer says.
“I’m not bringing nothing on myself, you better get the fuck out my face,” Shakur says.
Shakur tries to roll up his window and the officer puts his hand on the window and opens the door.
Which agitates Shakur more to the point Shakur starts to roll his car for a second.
A sergeant arrives on scene and talks to Shakur.
While they are talking, the initial officers talk to each other saying that they are still going to give him a ticket and that “he is not going to shit on us.”
After the sergeant talks to Shakur, he tries gets the officers’ side of the story. As they converse, loud music starts playing from inside Shakur’s car.
The officers continue to talk and walk back and forth between patrol cars until the 17-and-a-half-minute mark.
Shakur then tells a pedestrian:
“These fucking punk ass police out here fucking around.”
Shakur then flips off Officer Rivera and continues to talk to the pedestrian.
“Show them what your police are doing. Show them are the gestapo police. These ain’t police. These are fucking punk ass mother fucking, these are fucking pigs right now.”
Shakur also rapped an unknown song referencing police as “rednecks wearing blue collars like the kkk.”
The video ends with the initial officer walking up to Shakur’s SUV and handing him his traffic ticket. Immediately after, Shakur speeds off.
We have included a shorten version above, but if you want to watch the full version it is at the bottom.
Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus made a statement after word grew of Shakur’s action, according to Mid Hudson News.
““Elected officials are held to a higher standard and are supposed to conduct themselves as such. The police video from the City of Newburgh is very disturbing. Police officer’s don’t work for one man or one woman, they work for the people. Law enforcement is a dangerous profession as it is and officials need to set the example by showing them respect and support.”
Town of Newburgh PBA President Derek Campbell said that this is not the first time officers had this type of interaction with Shakur, but it is the first time that it has made the media.
Newburgh Police Department has been using body camera’s since June 2015. The issue will be addressed during tonight’s Newburgh’s City Council meeting, according to NBC New York.
