A Florida county commissioner was caught on video dropping his title twice in back-to-back speeding incidents — declaring “I run the county” in one of the traffic stops, footage of the cases shows.
In the latest incident, Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins was in his red Ferrari when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over on June 19, according to reports.
Mullins had been traveling 92 mph in a 70 mph-speed zone on Interstate 95, Fox 35 reported. As the trooper is talking to Mullins, the trooper stops and says “I’m sorry?”
Mullins then says “I run the county so I know how that works.”
“You run the county?” the trooper replied.
Mullins replies “Yeah, I’m the chairman of the county commission,” according to the dash cam footage obtained by Fox 35. The trooper then continues to explain the citation before Mullins is seen zooming away at the end of the encounter.
On June 2, Mullins was pulled over in a Mercedes Benz SUV for going 89 mph in a 60-mph zone on Interstate 4, the Daytona Beach News Journal reported.
After the two troopers talk with Mullins, they then go back to a patrol car where one trooper said, “he said he was a county commissioner,” to which the other trooper replied, “yeah well he’s getting a ticket,” according to footage obtained by the Daytona Beach News Journal.
The outlet also reported the trooper who spoke to Mullins can be heard threatening to arrest Mullins at one point if he gets out of the SUV.
According to highway patrol dispatch notes obtained by the local outlet, Mullins “stated it would be a carrer [sic] ending move if I arrested him for failing to obey a lawful order.”
The police report also stated Mullins was “extremely condescending, belligerent, illogical and disrespectful,” and alleged he “flashed his business card to get out of ticket,” according to the News Journal.
In separate letters to judges seeking leniency for both incidents, Mullins claimed he was in a rush and not paying attention to how fast he was driving, the newspaper reported.
