An upstate New York district attorney is under investigation after police bodycam video showed her getting into a heated confrontation with an officer who had stopped her for speeding, calling him an “a–hole” and demanding “leave me alone.”
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley apologized on Monday, a day after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul referred the April 22 incident to the State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct.
“What I did was wrong — no excuses,” Doorley said in her apology. “I take full responsibility for my actions.”
The bodycam video, obtained by NBC affiliate WHEC of Rochester, showed that the exchange started when a Webster police officer pulled up to Doorley’s garage, where she had just parked.
The officer, identified as Cameron Crisafulli by the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper, asked Doorley why she didn’t pull over when he had his lights and sirens on.
She admitted she was going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. Later in the 26-minute video, she said she didn’t think he was trying to pull her over, claiming there were other people on the road. “I was right behind you,” the officer replied.
Throughout the video, Doorley did not cooperate with demands to stay in front of the garage. Instead she walked around her garage, at one point trying to go inside her home.
“Ma’am, do not go inside,” Crisafulli said. “Ma’am, come outside. You can’t just go inside, this is a traffic stop.”
“I understand the law better than you. Get out of my f—— house,” she retorted.
Doorley appeared agitated and boasted multiple times, “I am the DA of Monroe County,” and repeatedly said “leave me alone.” When told she had violated speeding laws, she said, “I don’t really care.”
Doorley said she was calling Webster Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier and she put Crisafulli on the line. Crisafulli then called a supervisor to the scene.
“I just don’t understand the hostility towards me. I’m just doing my job,” Crisafulli said. She quipped back: “You’re being an a–hole. I am the DA of Monroe County.”
“If you give me traffic ticket that’s fine. I’m the one that prosecutes it. Go ahead,” she said at one point.
“I’m having a really bad day,” she said. “I’ve been dealing with murders all over the city.”
A supervisor ultimately came to the home and spoke with Doorley, and Crisafulli ended up writing her a ticket for speeding.
When he presented it to her, she simply nodded and said, “I apologize.”
“I’m sorry you had a bad day, and I’m sorry it went this way. I do respect what you do. Have a good day,” the officer replied.
An apology and investigation
Hochul, in her statement Sunday, said Doorley’s behavior was “in contravention of her responsibility as a District Attorney and undermined her ability to hold others accountable for violating the law.”
Doorley issued an apology video Monday, WHEC reported, saying: “Last Monday I failed you and the standards that I hold myself to. And for that I am so sorry.”
She added, “I fell short of the values I’ve held for my entire 33-year career. I didn’t treat this officer with the respect that he deserved. All police officers deserve respect.”
She said that she had come home from work that day and dealt with three homicides that had occurred the weekend before.
“I was still reeling from a frightening medical concern that my husband received that afternoon,” she explained. “But we all have bad days and stress, and it was wrong on me to take it out on an officer who was simply doing his job. While I had previously apologized to him, I will say it again, I’m sorry.”
She said she pleaded guilty to the speeding ticket and will pay the fine, and is referring the matter to a different district attorney’s office for review. She said she’d also self-report the case to the grievance committee.
“If one of my assistant district attorneys had acted this way, I would have disciplined them, so I’m disciplining myself. I will take ethics training to remind myself that professionalism matters,” she said. “I’ve been humbled by my own stupidity and I am fully to blame. I will make this right — I ask for your forgiveness.”
NBC News has reached out to Doorley’s office and Webster police for comment.
