The Monroe County Office of Public Integrity plans to investigate District Attorney Sandra Doorley’s traffic-stop conduct. The investigation will be conducted in conjunction with the Monroe County Board of Ethics.
“The investigation begins immediately,” said Janson McNair, director of OPI and chair of the Board of Ethics. “We will report the results of our thorough investigation and subsequent recommendations to the appropriate authorities and share them with the public via a press release.”
This decision follows Doorley’s public apology and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s referral to the state Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct.
Doorley’s interaction with a Webster police officer, who attempted to stop her for speeding, is under scrutiny after the bodycam footage of the encounter went viral. She was driving 55 mph in a 35-mph zone on Phillips Road in Webster. Her behavior with the officer, who followed her home to issue a ticket, has brought criticism, protests and calls for her resignation.
In her apology, Doorley said she has pleaded guilty to the speeding ticket and will pay the fine. She has referred the matter to an unnamed district attorney from another county for review. Doorley plans to self-report the incident to a state court grievance committee and take ethics training.
Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected].
This where we seem to be at on both sides. One mistake is all it takes, be always right or resign. What of the good public service Doorley has done? Of the fact she was inundated with other issues. Or just that she had a bad day? Not that these are excuses, but reasons. Discipline? Yes. Training? Yes. But who has always been 100% 100% of the time. This could indeed make any DA more sympathetic to the accused.
So let me get this straight, if a young kid, black or white, while having a “bad day” is caught speeding, resists arrest, swears at and verbally abuses the cop, your view is that his actions should be ignored and the cop should just politely hand him a speeding ticket?
So, there’s a lot more to resisting arrest than what she did. But in answer to the rest, yes. If anyone acts up the officer should focus on what their “mission” is. A professional should ignore the response and politely issue the ticket. Been there, done that.
I love the Trumpublican logic exhibited here by Mr. S. Fi. When the governor, the titular top law enforcement officer (given that the Attorney General reports to her) does her duty and asks that the VERIFIED via video anti-police misconduct of a county district attorney be investigated, he makes the allegedly “Back the Blue” office holder the victim and calls for the governor to resign. That any mere mortal in the state, acting as Doorley did, would likely have ended up in the slammer doesn’t seem to register with her supporters. His comments remind me of something Alice said in her Wonderland days… “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.”
So let’s see. A cop catches Republican Monroe County DA Doorley speeding, she refuses to stop, drives homes, swears at the cop for following her into her garage, abuses him for doing his job, waves around her badge and yells, “I don’t really care. You know what, if you give me a traffic ticket, that’s fine. I’m the one who prosecutes it….And do you think I really care if I was going 20 miles over the speed limit?” Setting aside the question of what happen to all this GOP Back the Blue talk, imagine what would have happened to any of the rest of us if we acted that way.
So now she is going to ethics training? Long past time we were rid of her. She has overcharged working people, poor and middle class, who cannot afford the expense of a lawyer for serious charges. This is why about 90% of charges never go to a jury of one’s peers and end in a plea bargain. This happens even when overcharged or innocent because they cannot afford any jail and lose their job and/or their residence. This includes many charged with possession of small amounts of marihuana, which she opposed legalizing. Got to keep that law-and-order batting average up. These prosecutions were mostly black and brown people, even though whites use as much. Withholding discovery, using a cop a judge found perjured himself, which she never prosecuted, and used him again. Ignoring proof of innocence on serious charges that resulted in later exoneration at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars as remedy for her actions. Per capita, she may lead state DAs in this category. I have not even touched on her antisemitism in her last campaign. Time for her to go.
We certainly do not need Governor Kathy Hochul to intervene. Other than grandstanding there is little to no value in her involvement. I believe she has plenty of more pressing issues on her plate. I could name a few but there is a word limit on the Beacon.
So you believe that there’s no reason to investigate a district attorney who, as a member of a political party which preens itself on its (alleged) Back the Blue position, and who, having taken an oath to uphold and enforce the laws, gets caught speeding, refuses to stop for the police, drives home, swear at the cop for going into her garage to talk to her, abuses the cop, waves around her badge and basically says that the ticket won’t be prosecuted? Or are you waiting for the Monroe County and New York State Republican Party committees to call for an investigation?
Len:
Read my reply. I don’t think that the case ought to be anywhere near the governor. She has enough on her plate. How about making that a local responsibility without the charade by Democrats who are thanking God that this occurred. They are giddy about this. I believe I said that she needs to resign. Let me repeat this for you…resign. You are nothing but a party politics cheerleader. A simple resignation ought to be doing things right, but most important for Sandra Doorley….doing the right thing. The honorable thing. It’s that simple Len.
Semper Fi.