Criticism and support for Pompano’s vice mayor after video shows her cursing at a cop

Pompano Beach Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins doesn’t deserve to be in elected office after her cussing at a Fort Lauderdale cop was caught on bodycam video, according to the attorney for the police union.

Perkins drew a wave of support and criticism Tuesday afternoon after the video that shows her using an expletive after a traffic stop earlier this year in Fort Lauderdale went viral.

“As an elected official, who believes that they’re above the law, you do not deserve to be in office or hold the title of vice mayor,” said Barbra Stern, the attorney for the union, said at the commission meeting. “That day you did attempt to abuse your power.”

But at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, Perkins publicly apologized while saying that she complied with the police officer. “If any exchange on my part in the conversation with the police officer is perceived as being disrespectful, then I do apologize.”

Perkins’ supporters dismissed the footage as a “political hit job,” noting how Perkins’ encounter with police happened months ago, yet surfaced now with this year’s elections getting closer.

Perkins was pulled over for allegedly speeding back in April. But the video of her heated interaction with a Fort Lauderdale Police officer is now trending online.

The YouTube channel Cop Watch shared body-camera video of the traffic stop Thursday. The video doesn’t show where the traffic stop took place. The officer ordered Perkins to hold her hands out of the window of her white SUV and said he clocked her driving at 45 mph in a 30 mph zone and at 60 mph in a 40 mph zone.

Perkins’ discontent was clear. After walking back to her car, the officer explained he issued her a warning for speeding. She gave no response other than turning her music down and placing her hand to her ear.

“You hear what I said?” the officer asked. “You gotta slow down. I’m writing you a warning for speeding tonight, OK?”

Perkins stared at him and reached for her seat belt without speaking. As the officer walked away, Perkins asked for his name. He appears to tell her his name, but it’s unclear what he says in the video.

“All right. I’m Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins from the City of Pompano Beach. Y’all need to find something better to f------ do,” Perkins said before she drove off.

“OK,” the officer responded.

Perkins is running for re-election in November to keep her District 4 seat against Kevin Eason and Mary Schofield-Phillips.

The Fort Lauderdale FOP Lodge 31 responded to the video in a Facebook post Friday night.

“Madam Vice Mayor Beverly Perkins, instead of attacking the hardworking Fort Lauderdale Police Department Officers and resorting to using profanity, we suggest you apologize and then sign up for some ride-alongs to see what they do every day to protect the citizens of our great city,” the post reads.

Even though Perkins offered an apology at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, that wasn’t enough for the Fort Lauderdale police union, which attended the meeting.

“As an elected official, you are not above the law,” said Stern, the attorney for the union. “Yet that is exactly how you behaved. ... Your behavior following that stop was deplorable and unbecoming of an elected official.”

Stern said after Perkins was stopped, officers thought she would flee the scene because she pulled her car forward, so they instructed her to put her hands outside the window “not once, but twice.”

In response, Perkins told them that she had “high-ranking” Sheriff’s officials programmed on speed dial in her phone. Stern told Perkins as an elected official she is held to a higher standard, yet “threw around your name and your ties to BSO.”

She called the apology “a day late, dollar short.”

But Perkins was not without her supporters. One resident, who called it a “halfway apology,” said Perkins was being unfairly criticized as a “Black woman.” “Don’t do that to our people,” she said. Another listed Perkins’ civic accomplishments and said she had the right to free speech.

“We all say things we don’t mean,” said a third.