TAMPA – Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor resigned yesterday, following Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s announcement of an internal review, following the release of body cam footage in which O’Connor showed her badge and asked for leniency during a traffic stop last month.
On Nov. 12, O'Connor and her husband (who is Tampa's code enforcement manager) were pulled over by a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy while driving a golf cart on a road without a license plate.
Once pulled over, O’Connor told the deputy she was the Tampa police chief, adding, "I'm hoping that you'll just let us go tonight." When the deputy complied O’Connor gave him her business card and said, "If you ever need anything call me É seriously."
O’Connor’s appointment as chief in February was already controversial, as she had been arrested in 1995 for assault on an officer, obstruction, and disorderly intoxication. The incident arose when O’Connor was a passenger during a traffic stop in which her future husband had been pulled over on suspicion of DUI by a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy.
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