Joe Lombardo, the governor of Nevada and former law enforcement officer, was pulled over on May 15 after his pickup truck was seen running a red light. After a police officer approached his vehicle, Lombardo announced “I’m Joe Lombardo,” and was allowed to leave without a citation.
Bodycam footage obtained by local media shows a 15-second interaction.
“Hello, how are you doing, sir?” the officer says to Lombardo, sat in the driver’s side, with his wife Donna Lombardo in the passenger seat. Lombardo interrupts: “I’m Joe Lombardo” after the cop begins explaining why he was pulled over. The officer adds “I’m aware” and says Lombardo failed to stop at a red light before making a right turn.
“Come on, man,” Lombardo says.
“You’re good to go, sir,” the officer says, “Appreciate you.”
The video was obtained by a public records request, and now that it’s public the authorities are saying that there’s nothing to see.
Steve Grammas, the president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said the interaction wasn’t uncommon. Officers stop drivers, explain why drivers are stopped and then let them go on their way. … Grammas, whose union endorsed the Republican governor, denied Lombardo received any special treatment. Edward Obayashi, a deputy sheriff and policy advisor…”We let motorists off with a warning all the time,” Obayashi said.
ABC News didn’t trouble itself to find a source for its story that wasn’t a dial-a-quote law enforcer, so allow me to point out that the problem was never the cop. Cops obviously let people off all the time for minor infractions, and no-one is seriously arguing that the officer is the problem here. The problem is the governor, for telling the cop who he was in a crude effort to influence his decision.
