Port Authority commissioner resigns after video shows her raging at cops during New Jersey traffic stop
TENAFLY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has resigned after video surfaced of her conduct at a police stop involving her daughter in New Jersey.
Caren Turner is a veteran Democratic political lobbyist and chair of the Port Authority's ethics committee.
The video was shot by a police car dashcam.
Police officer: "You're just here as a ride right?"
Turner: "I'm here as a concerned citizen and friend of the mayor. And what is the reason you pulled them over?"
Police officer: "The driver has all the information."
Turner: "No no no no no, I need to know."
And even officers who have seen it all are stunned.
Turner: "I will be in with the commissioner of police of Tenafly."
Officer: "Take a step back. Take a step back. I can't move back any farther and you keep coming closer to me."
Tenafly police had pulled over a Toyota for illegally tinted windows and then discovered the registration was expired. They had to impound it.
One of the passengers called her mom to pick them up, and up drove a black Mercedes and a woman who very much wanted the cops to know exactly who she was.
Turner: "That's my ID and my business card. I am commissioner of the Port Authority, and I'm heading up 4,000 police officers."
Police pfficer: "Miss."
Turner: "No, don't call me Miss. I'm Commissioner."
At least until then, Caren Turner was one of 12 members of the volunteer board of commissioners that oversees the Port Authority and its police department, though it has considerably fewer than 4,000 officers.
She was demanding the Tenafly cops explain the reason behind the car stop, something they say they are legally barred from doing. But she wouldn't give up.
"You are a disappointment, and you are just following him, so you are also a disappointment," Turner said to the two officers.
"The video speaks for itself, the conduct was indefensible," the Port Authority said in a statement released Tuesday night, saying it was preparing to take action against Turner at this Thursday's board meeting. But instead, she resigned. It was appropriate, the statement continued, "given her outrageous conduct."
The lights were off and it seemed no one was home at Turner's Tenafly home Tuesday night, though the Mercedes was in the driveway.
It's not clear why she reacted this way, though it's hard to imagine she doesn't regret it.
Police officer: "You may take your daughter now."
Turner: "You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the (expletive) up."
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