TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa police Chief Mary O’Connor identified herself as chief, pulled out her badge and asked a Pinellas sheriff’s deputy to “just let us go” after she and her husband were pulled over in a golf cart last month, a video shared by the Tampa Police Department on Thursday showed.
In the video, which was recorded by the deputy’s body camera during the Nov. 12 traffic stop, the deputy immediately lets them go as they exchange handshakes and pleasantries.
O’Connor’s husband, Keith, was not cited for not having a tag on the golf cart while he was driving on a public road in Oldsmar.
O’Connor could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
A news release from the Police Department includes a statement from O’Connor in which she says she has apologized to Mayor Jane Castor and wants to apologize to residents.
“In hindsight, I realize how my handling of this matter could be viewed as inappropriate, but that was certainly not my intent,” O’Connor said. “I knew my conversation was on video, and my motive was not to put the deputy in an uncomfortable position. I have personally called the Pinellas County Sheriff offering to pay for any potential citation.”
Castor also could not be reached for comment Thursday, but the news release also included a statement from her in which she said: “We hold everyone accountable, no matter their position, and this behavior was unacceptable. Chief O’Connor will go through the due process and face appropriate discipline.”
According to the release, O’Connor has contacted the Tampa Police Professional Standards Bureau “asking to receive the same discipline that any officer would receive for similar conduct.”
The Police Department said an internal review currently is being conducted.
The Pinellas deputy is not under review for the incident, according to Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Amanda Sinni.
O’Connor’s behavior — and subsequent arrest — during another traffic stop some three decades ago while she was a rookie Tampa officer was among the issues that mired her appointment as chief in controversy.
In 1995, O’Connor was with her then-boyfriend Keith O’Connor when they were pulled over by a Hillsborough sheriff’s deputy. Mary O’Connor, known then as Mary Minter, repeatedly disrupted deputies who were trying to give Keith O’Connor a sobriety test, and she was asked to sit in a patrol car to calm down, according to published reports and personnel records.
She kicked the windows and struck a deputy on the shoulder and chest with her fist. Deputies arrested Keith O’Connor on a drunken-driving charge and Minter on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, obstruction and disorderly intoxication. She pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of battery and obstruction. A judge withheld adjudication.
Both officers were suspended and then fired, but later reinstated. Both worked their way up to the top ranks of the department. Keith O’Connor retired in 2019 as an assistant chief and is now the city’s neighborhood enhancement manager.
O’Connor has said she was an immature person who made a terrible decision and then made the most of her second chance at a law enforcement career. She said the experience gave her valuable perspective that helped her as a cop and would help her as the department’s leader.
Times staff writers Tony Marrero, Natalie Weber and Matt Cohen contributed to this report.
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