Congressional candidate apologizes for being a 'Karen' during Sarasota traffic stop

In a brief interview Wednesday with 10 Tampa Bay, Hyde admitted he was wrong for his words during the traffic stop — during which he threatened to have a police officer fired after she stopped him for speeding and texting.

"I was completely bang out of order," Hyde told photojournalist Tim Burquest. "I have no right to talk to anybody like that; and I not only called the officer afterwards to apologize, I apologized to everybody that's come into contact with it."

The video gained some national attention this week, being picked up by Newsweek.

On Wednesday, Hyde made clear he knows he was wrong.

"I think everybody's rather sanctimonious about civility until it actually happens to them," Hyde told 10 Tampa Bay. "You know, I acted a bit like a 'Karen' there. I wanted to call the manager or somebody who can change something that I didn't like."

Hyde says he has spent hundreds of hours working on behalf of law enforcement, and he generally has had good relationships with the police.

He says this incident, which was seen on recently-released body camera video, certainly won't help his campaign. 

"Anybody that might consider voting for me might have pause for thought," Hyde said. "I'd ask people to wait and look at the whole thing over a period of time and ask themselves whether they want someone in Congress that votes your constitutional rights or whether somebody that plays nice with cops when they give them tickets."

Full apology video

Police Officer Julia Beskin stopped Hyde on Feb. 14. She told him he'd been texting and speeding near Fruitville Road and N Euclid Avenue in Sarasota.

A laser reading confirmed Hyde was going 57 in a 40, according to the Sarasota Police Department.

Shortly after Beskin walked up to Hyde's SUV, he asked “You know who I am, right?”

"Yes sir, I do," responded Beskin, who had been with Sarasota PD for seven years. 

In their initial interaction, Hyde did not immediately provide registration when asked – but he did show it later, after the citations were written. He was cited for speeding, texting and driving and failure to provide the registration upon request. The three citations came with a combined total of nearly $500 in fines.

As Beskin maintained her cool, Hyde could be heard growing increasingly agitated during the course of the traffic stop — suggesting he was being treated rudely.

“Is it your Russian immigrant status that makes you talk to people like this?” Hyde asked Beskin, who the Sarasota Herald-Tribune says is from Latvia and speaks English and Russian.

Beskin is no stranger to law enforcement. Before her job in Sarasota, she graduated high school in Brooklyn, earned a criminal justice degree and spent eight years with the NYPD, the newspaper explained.

But, as she tried to keep the Feb. 14 conversation on track, it was clear Hyde did not accept her answers for him. At one point during the traffic stop, Hyde pulled out his cell phone with a campaign logo on it and said “Keep talking to a congressional candidate like this.”

As Beskin continued to try to do her job, Hyde began to imply he'd make sure she got fired.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“Because I have a job to do, sir. Nobody is above the law," Beskin responded.

Hyde told Beskin she'd "made a mistake" and that “I’ll fight your employment.” 

“I did nothing wrong, sir. I was doing my job," Beskin said at one point.

Back-up officers responded, as did two sergeants. Once alone with one supervisor, Hyde continued to suggest he'd have Beskin fired.

“She’s been there 7 years. She ain’t gonna make 8. I’ll make sure," Hyde said.

As he was preparing to leave, Hyde suggested the police might be responsible for a recent string of violence in Sarasota's Newtown neighborhood.

“No wonder you’ve got people shooting people in Newtown if that’s how you talk to people," he told the supervisor.

A Sarasota police insider confirms department leaders are standing by Officer Beskin, who they believe did nothing wrong.

Body Camera Footage

10 Tampa Bay has condensed the longer cam videos to focus on the actual interaction between Officer Beskin and Mr. Hyde, which can be seen in the single video below. Two different camera angles are included.

If you're having trouble seeing the footage, click here.

Hyde has twice run unsuccessfully for Sarasota City Commission. During one of those runs, he was accused of racism.

Back in 2019, our news partners at WWSB reported on an incident at Sarasota's Bath & Racquet Club. It involved teenagers who were in town for the Casely International Tennis Championships.

At the time, the teens' tennis coach told WWSB his players recounted Hyde aggressively telling them to quiet down as they spoke Spanish and supposedly saying they should “go out and cut the grass."

In a video clip posted to social media, Hyde could be heard saying "I don't know what drugs they're on."

According to the TV station, Hyde admitted to being angry but denied making a racist comment.

“I acknowledge from the get-go is that I was wrong and that much wasn’t based on their ethnicity," Hyde told WWSB at the time. "It was based on my poor character."

For attendees of Sarasota School Board meetings, Hyde is well-known. And, his statements there have drawn attention beyond just Sarasota.

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, once used a clip of Hyde passionately speaking against a local mask mandate as the opening part of one of their online advertisements.