Congressional Candidate Repeatedly Threatens Female Police Officer's Job in Cringeworthy Traffic Stop Video

A Florida congressional candidate who was not happy about being pulled over seemed to instantly forget he was being recorded on body cam as he appeared to repeatedly threaten the officer's job.

Martin Hyde, a former UK professional soccer player currently running for Congress in Sarasota, was stopped on Valentine's Day for allegedly speeding and texting on his phone.

Newly surfaced footage, recorded on Officer Julia Beskin's body cam, captured the particularly cringeworthy interaction, as the 56-year-old wielded every name in his Rolodex in an effort to squirm out of it.

After pleasantly identifying herself, and informing him he had been allegedly driving 57MPH in a 40MPH zone while using his phone — and reminding him he is being recorded — he immediately sets the tone with "You don't need to point at me, officer."

"I'm not pointing at you, I'm pointing in the direction it was," she tells him.

"I'll just call the Chief, how's that?" he replies. "You know who I am right?"

The Police Chief will not be the only name he brandishes during the 27-minute video, as he also threatens to call the City Manager, and even the Mayor. Officer Beskin, however, holds her ground throughout.

"You gonna do this?" he incredulously asks when she asks for his license and registration — incidentally, pointing a finger at her.

"Yes sir," she replies. "I still have a job to do."

"Yeah, for now," he mutters.

Stalling on handing over his documents, he asks for her name, and smirking, repeatedly asks her how long she has been with the department.

After failing to produce his registration, he tells her to call the Chief, City Manager and Mayor to show them the video "of how rude you've just been to me." Officer Beskin just says "Okay."

"No not okay darlin' — I'm telling you what to do. You're making career decisions."

After running his information back in her patrol car, Officer Beskin returns to give Hyde back his license, only to be told he'd just called her supervisor "and he's not happy about it."

"Is it your Russian immigrant status that makes you talk to people like this?" he asks Beskin, who is actually originally from Latvia, but speaks both Russian and English.

She ignores this, and reads out his citations, as he appears to repeatedly tell her "you're about to lose your job."

"Do you think you're winning? Do you? You're talking to a congressional candidate like this," he says, and even accuses her of lying. She just continues to read him his rights.

When she places his license back on his dash because he wont take it back, he tells her to get her hand out of his car because she doesn't have a warrant. He waves the registration he initially refused to hand over (which as it turns out, is an expired one) asking her "Are you stupid?" She calmly informs him he's already been written a ticket for it.

Eventually he gets out of the car, and Officer Beskin radios for help from another patrol car for a driver "who's being uncooperative."

The name-dropping, alas, is not finished yet. As Beskin waits for the supervisor Hyde claims he's summoned, he asks her if she knows Pat Robinson, the Deputy City Manager.

"Why are you doing this?" he demands.

"Because I have a job to do, sir — nobody is above the law," she replies.

"No one is above the law," he agrees, adding, "you have to have respect for law abiding citizens."

After declaring he was going to fight her in court, she tells him "You are an influential person, you can go ahead and do that."

"Very," he agrees again. "Yes I can."

He then asks: "Why don't you say you're sorry?" — at which point Officer Beskin finally ends the conversation.

When her supervisor arrives a few minutes later, she explains to him what happened, and is sure to add " — and yes I do know who he is."

Hyde meanwhile can be heard telling a third officer that "we gotta make make sure she pays the price for being disrespectful."

Hyde, who was goalkeeper for English soccer clubs Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. and Southampton F.C in the early '80s, later released a statement, with a very different tune:

"Just over a week ago I was stopped in Sarasota for speeding. During the stop I was belligerent and rude to the officer who stopped me. Much interest has been shown in local media and many comments made as to my behavior. I'm not going to justify my poor temper on that day or attempt to mitigate it in any way. There will be some who will say it's not the first time I've acted out and they'd be right. I have faults and one of them is to be overly aggressive on occasion when I'm challenged. In the political arena that is possibly a good thing but on a personal level it's not."

"I've apologized to the officer in question, and now I’m apologizing to the community as a whole. I'm going to do my utmost to behave better going forward. I'm not running away though as that's not in my nature. There is nothing more I can say, or will say on this subject other than I'm sorry for any offense caused to anyone."

Indeed, there are people who say it's not the first time he's acted out: In 2019, he dropped out of the City Commission race after being accused of using racist language against a Latino teen at a private tennis club.

Sergio Dilan, a junior tennis player, claimed at the time Hyde yelled at him for speaking Spanish, and then told him to "go cut the grass."

Part of the interaction was recorded and posted on Twitter. When Dilan tells him he's going to call the police over his racist language, Hyde makes a very familiar reply: "Call the Chief — he knows me."

Hyde later denied using racist language, but dropped out of the race because staying would "do more harm than good."

He was banned from the Sarasota's Bath & Racquet Club either way.