Republican congressional candidate Martin Hyde was caught in body camera footage harassing and insulting a police officer during a traffic stop on Valentine's Day.
Martin Hyde, who is running for office in Florida, told Sarasota police officer Julia Beskin that she was "making career decisions" by pulling over Mr Hyde.
According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Ms Beskin ultimately cited Mr Hyde for speeding, failing to produce a valid registration, and for texting while driving.
In the footage, Ms Beskin pulls over Mr Hyde and approaches his vehicle. She informs him that she stopped him because she clocked him driving 57 mph in a 30-mph zone.
“You don’t need to point at me, officer,” Mr Hyde says to the officer. “I’ll just call the Chief. You know who I am, right?”
She confirms that she does recognise him and says his name later while calling in to her dispatcher.
Ms Beskins told the dispatcher that Mr Hyde was "being extremely uncooperative" and that she just "gave him three tickets”.
Mr Hyde later insults Ms Beskins based on the fact that she's an immigrant.
“Is it your Russian immigrant status that makes you talk to people like this?” he asked.
Ms Beskins is originally from Latvia, and is fluent in both English and Russian.
The incident continued as Ms Beskins handed the congressional candidate his tickets. He demanded that she call her supervisor to come out to the scene and repeatedly accused her of lying. Mr Hyde also tried to use the fact that he's running for Congress to squirm out of the tickets.
“Do you think you’re winning? Do you?” Mr Hyde said. “You’re talking to a congressional candidate like this?”
Mr Hyde is currently lagging far behind his primary rival, US Rep Vern Buchanan. As of 8 February, Mr Buchanan holds a six-to-one advantage over Mr Hyde among likely Republican voters, according to St. Pete Polls.
Despite his dismal chances in the primary, he has earned endorsements from individuals like right-wing hatchet-man and presidential pardon recipient Roger Stone and QAnon conspiracy theorist and former Trump administration official Michael Flynn.
Eventually other police officers arrived on scene. He told one officer that "we're going to make sure she pays the price for being disrespectful”.
Mr Hyde issued a statement on his Facebook page addressing the incident. His response appears in full below.
“Just over a week ago I was stopped in Sarasota for speeding. During the stop I was belligerent and rude to the officer who stopped me. Much interest has been shown in local media and many comments made as to my behavior. I’m not going to justify my poor temper on that day or attempt to mitigate it in any way . There will be some who will say it’s not the first time I’ve acted out and they’d be right. I have faults and one of them is to be overly aggressive on occasion when I’m challenged. In the political arena that is possibly a good thing but on a personal level it’s not."
“I’ve apologized to the officer in question, and now I’m apologizing to the community as a whole. I’m going to do my utmost to behave better going forward. I’m not running away though as that’s not in my nature. There is nothing more I can say, or will say on this subject other than I’m sorry for any offense caused to anyone.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Hyde for comment.
