An Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputy was seen on cellphone video berating a tow truck driver and flashing her badge as he was towing her illegally parked vehicle.
The deputy has been reassigned since the confrontation Tuesday night.
VIDEO: Raw: Orange County deputy berates tow truck driver [via WFTV]
The deputy was off-duty when her pickup truck was towed because it was blocking a sidewalk.
“Give me my truck. You’re illegally stealing my truck,” said the deputy to the driver, who was recording the incident.
WFTV obtained cellphone video from Universal Towing in South Orange County.
It shows a portion of a heated exchange between Orange County Deputy Tracy Weiss and the driver at Starlight Ranch Retirement Community.
“I am a cop. You’re going to (expletive) jail for stealing my car,” said Weiss.
“I’m not going to jail,” said the driver.
A heavily redacted incident report confirms Weiss was involved in a civil dispute.
The Sheriff’s Office won’t say what the dispute was about, but it did confirm she was off-duty and she’s been reassigned because of the incident.
It’s not clear why the deputy, who’s been with the Sheriff’s Office for 11 years, was in the retirement community.
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The tow truck driver showed WFTV a picture of Weiss using someone else’s car, facing the wrong direction, to block the tow truck from leaving.
The Sheriff’s Office said the incident is being investigated internally and there won’t be a full report until the investigation is complete.
Deputies did not say if the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is involved.
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