A South Orange (NJ)-Maplewood School Board Member was caught on camera using foul language and apparently calling a police chief a “skinhead” after being pulled over for speeding last month.
In the dash-cam video, obtained from police by NJ Advance Media, Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad can be heard using profanity and complaining when issued tickets by a village police officer.
During the traffic stop, a hysterical Lawson-Muhammad threatens to “call Sheena…and your skinhead cop chief, too,” apparently referencing South Orange Village President Sheena Collum and village Police Chief Kyle Kroll.
Earlier in the video, the board member can also be heard telling the officer, “I’m scared of cops because you guys hurt black people.”
In the video of the April 27 incident, Lawson-Muhammad was pulled over at just before 8 a.m. on Walton Avenue near the border of South Orange and Maplewood. She is heard telling the officer, “My name is Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad, I’m on the school board, I’m a community member of this town and I am sorry if I was speeding. I didn’t realize I was speeding.”
When the officer tells her that she is getting summonses for speeding and for not having a valid insurance card, Lawson-Muhammad starts to argue, saying, “for me to have to go to court, for me to have to go to court, now you want me to go to court? I don’t want to go to court, I have insurance.”
The board member threatens to call the high-ranking town officials after the officer says he cannot void a ticket that has already been written. Reached Wednesday, Kroll declined to comment on the incident. Collum did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Lawson-Muhammad and Maplewood South Orange School Board spokesperson Suzanne Turner did not respond to requests for comment.