Video Shows Port Authority Commissioner Cursing At NJ Cops (2024)

A video showed the official, who just quit because of "outrageous conduct," cursing at NJ cops during a traffic stop.

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 7:16 pm ET|Updated Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 10:06 pm ET

"You may shut the f--- up," Caren Z. Turner said in an exchange with Tenafly police at the 7:16 mark on the first dash-cam video shown below. The obscenity is bleeped out.

In a statement released to Politico (see full statement below), Turner apologized for her use of "off-color language" and letting "my emotions get the better of me," and she regretted her tone toward the officers.

However, despite resigning, Turner said she did not violate the Port Authority's Code of Ethics or ask for special treatment. Then she appeared to be critical of the two Tenafly policers who handled the case.

"As a long-time Tenafly resident, I have always taken an active role in the community, including working with law enforcement officials, and I encourage the Tenafly Police Department to review best practices with respect to tone and de-escalations so that incidents like this do not recur," she said.

The video was published just after the Port Authority announced that the Democratic lobbyist resigned as commissioner after engaging in "outrageous" and "profoundly disturbing" conduct.

Ben Branham, a spokesman for the Port Authority, told Patch that Turner’s resignation "was appropriate given her outrageous conduct.”

“The video speaks for itself. The conduct was indefensible," he said.

"The board takes its recently adopted Code of Ethics for Commissioners extremely seriously and was preparing to form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General investigation and take action at this Thursday’s Board meeting," he added.

Republican Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco also called on Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg, who recommended Turner for the job, to address the matter and not stay silent. Turner also is a former finance committee member for Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.

“In the past she has never hesitated to speak out against ethics violations. She can’t have it both ways when it’s her recommendation, her nominee,” said Bucco, R-Morris.

In the video, Turner is shown confronting two Tenafly police officers at a traffic stop, apparently on Easter weekend. Her daughter was a back-seat passenger in the car that was about to be towed away.

The police officers told her that the vehicle appeared to be unregistered. Turner told the cops that the situation "ruined" her Easter weekend. Turner told them she was a Port Authority commissioner, showing her ID and business card, and that she heads up over 4,000 police officers.

When one of the police officers referred to her as "miss," Turner said: "Don't call me miss. I'm commissioner."

Turner demanded to know "what the problem is" and told the two officers that she planned to speak to Tenafly officials about the traffic stop. She appeared to approach the officers closely, prompting one of them to say: "I can't keep moving back farther and you keep moving closer to me."

"I hope you have a really nice holiday weekend, too, because you just ruined it for a lot of people," Turner told the police officers.

"I didn't ruin anything. I was just doing my job," one officer says.

When Turner noted that she was a resident of Tenafly for at least two decades, one of the police officers asked if she was finished, and that she may take her daughter and her friends with her.

"You may not tell me when to take my child," Turner said. "You may shut the f--- up and not tell me when to take my kids."

Here is the video:

Here is a fuller version of the video:

Here is Turner's statement:

Read more at nj.com or at Politico, which provided two of the videos.

YouTube photo/video