'Wholly Unacceptable': Florida Mayor Blasts Cop's Treatment of 'Frightened' Gisele Bündchen During Traffic Stop
April 27 2024, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
A Florida mayor has slammed his town's police force for their treatment of Gisele Bündchen after the supermodel was seen breaking down in tears in publicly released body cam footage from a traffic stop earlier this week, RadarOnline.com has learned.
"I was dismayed yesterday to watch a video interaction of one of our residents speaking to one of our police officers," Surfside mayor Charles Burkett wrote in a letter to interim Police Chief Henry Doce, calling the incident "wholly unacceptable."
The cop pulled Bündchen over for driving erratically as she tried to evade a paparazzo who was "stalking" her. "I'm so tired," an emotional Bündchen said. “Everywhere I go I have these f------ guys after me. Nothing protects me. I can’t do nothing. I just want to live my life.”
The officer let Bündchen off with a warning but told her he couldn't help. "There’s nothing I can do about that,” he said. “I can’t prevent them from doing their job, which is to take pictures."
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"As one watches the video, it becomes clear very early in same that the resident is upset and frightened," Burkett wrote in his letter. "The frightened resident tells the Surfside officer that she believes a stalker is following her and that she is afraid. In response the Surfside police officer says; 'there's nothing I can do about that' and address your problem with Miami Beach."
"This response is wholly unacceptable and not reflective of the values, judgement and service residents expect from their police," he continued. "On the contrary, our police department's paramount job is to keep our residents safe! The dismissive posture towards a resident who is clearly in distress is everything we do not want to see in the way our police interact and serve our residents."
"I have always supported our police, and all the men and women who choose to honorably serve. What I saw on that video and the actions of the Surfside union boss at our recent meeting indicate that the past command staff leadership and union leadership, have lost sight of their mission. We are all counting on you to refocus our police department’s primary mission back to serving our residents."
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Doce, speaking to Local 10 News, admitted that the traffic stop could have been handled better.
"I would have liked to have seen more empathy at the initial contact to what was going on,” Doce said, adding that the officer who pulled Bündchen over is "phenomenal."
"Could we have done better?" he asked. "I think it’s a learning opportunity to understand what the dynamics of that situation is."