Watch: Punk Kid Tells Cop His Dad's the Mayor, Cop Tells Kid He's Got the Wrong Town
Here is the least effective statement in the history of criminal justice: “Do you know who I am?”
I’ve known a few cops in my time and even the most pusillanimous wouldn’t have been impressed if he pulled over Prince William and Michael Jordan in one of those dual-control driving school cars with a bong on the floor and fifth of Jameson in the cupholder. (Note to His Airness and the Windsors: This is a hypothetical. Please don’t sue me. You won’t get much anyway.)
It doesn’t work for sports stars or politicians. (Well, at least not anymore: Patrick Kennedy had a lot less luck with it than his dad Ted Kennedy did.)
It works even less effectively if you’re a Hollywood star, particularly if you’re Reese Witherspoon and the arresting officer probably had to sit through “Legally Blonde.”
Do you know who it really doesn’t work for, however? The son of a mayor. Particularly if your dad isn’t mayor of the town you’re being arrested in.
Alas, had he known this, Jordan Hancock would have made his life a lot easier. According to KDVR-TV, the 22-year-old son of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock not only used the least-beloved line in traffic stop history, he also called the officer who pulled him over a gay slur and other vulgar names while mentioning repeatedly his father was the major of a city he wasn’t in.
Police have now released the bodycam footage of what happened after Hancock was pulled over after doing 65 in a 40. Now, just a thought, remember when the left all thought that bodycams would show America just how horrible cops were and how our put-upon civilians were being unfairly harassed by law enforcement? For liberals, that was kind of like the “Fight Club” of public policy decisions: Boy, that didn’t end like you thought it was going to, did it?
Anyway, back to Jordan Hancock: Officer Paul McClendon found out that he didn’t have his driver’s license with him. Hancock told McClendon to hurry up and write him a ticket, which clearly is the best way to deal with a cop when you’ve made more than a few boo-boos.
“This isn’t going to hurry up because you don’t have your driver’s license,” McClendon said. He then asked for the paperwork.
“Jordan, how come this title is in the name of Michael B. Hancock?” McClendon asked.
“Because that’s my motherf—ing dad,” Hancock said.
“Cause that’s your motherf—ing dad? OK,” McClendon responded.
McClendon told Hancock he had to take a photo since Handock didn’t have his ID.
“My dad’s the mayor, you f—ing f—–,” he said.
McClendon asked mayor of what.
“Yeah, exactly, motherf—–,” Hancock said.
McClendon then correctly guessed it was Denver.
“Don’t worry about it, b—-,” he said.
“Well, you’re in Aurora, bud. He ain’t mayor of Aurora,” McClendon said.
“And guess what? I’m about to get you fired, you f—ing b—-.”
“Oh, yeah, for what?” McClendon asked?
“Yeah exactly, don’t worry about it. Hey Ben Vu, you f—ing b—-.”
“OK, I’m sure your dad is going to be proud,” McClendon said.
“Yeah, I got money, exactly,” he added.
Nice. The video was released in May, and the Aurora police are looking into who did that. They released the whole interaction just now to show exactly what McClendon was dealing with and that Hancock wasn’t exactly playing it cool.
Mayor Hancock, meanwhile, apologized on behalf of his son and brought race into it for reasons I’d rather not speculate on.
“The last thing we want is young men interacting with our police officers in that manner,” the mayor said in May. “Particularly African-American young men. And so (Jordan) recognizes that and he certainly understands that the officer didn’t deserve the interaction that he had so he’s written an apology to the officer, and he hopes that one day he gets a chance to personally apologize.”
“He hopes one day.” You know, I’m sure he could get to Aurora police HQ relatively quickly. Google lists driving time at about 20 minutes, and I’m sure it’s a lot quicker if you go 65 in a 40. Just saying. Then again, considering he apparently didn’t know what city he was in when he made his “Do you know who I am?” rant …
Look, I’ve been 22 before and also not the slowest driver, and I’ve also had one or two traffic stops where I wasn’t, ahem, at my best behavior. I never misbehaved anything like this, but the two times it happened I made a point to go to court or the station and apologize to the officer in question, just letting him or her know we all have bad days and nobody deserves to get the brunt of mine, least of all those who serve us.
And you know what I never did, or never would have done? Go with the “Do you know who I am?” nonsense. All over a $275 ticket, too.
This guy is the son of the mayor of Denver. He can jolly well take some time off to go apologize to this officer, especially if he’s “got money.” Get it together, punk.
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