"I'm embarrassed:" Konawa City Manager speaks about his behavior captured on body camera footage
KONAWA, Okla. (KFOR) - Konawa City Manager, Daniel Bruton, tells News 4 he is "embarrassed" and "ashamed" of his behavior, captured on Konawa Police body camera footage.
Body camera footage showed the moment that a Konawa police officer pulled over a speeding truck. Inside the vehicle was the City Manager, who was not pleased with being pulled over.
In the video, Bruton is seen outside of the vehicle when the officer steps out of his police truck. Bruton can be heard yelling, “I’m trying to get the water back on.”
The officer, who is unaware of the issue, still tries to do his job and tells Bruton that he was speeding.
“I’m telling you right now, you better get back in that truck or you’re not going to have a job,” said Bruton.
Things escalated quickly, when Bruton got back to his truck and the officer tried to talk with him. The City Manager raised his voice, and the officer old him to go.
The traffic stop ended, however, Bruton later comes back to the station to confront the officer.
Bruton is seen on camera calling the Chief of Police and says he is "firing" the officer. The officer can be seen shaking as this exchange occurs.
We tried to talk with the City Manager on Friday about what was captured on video, but he was not at city hall when we arrived.
In a phone call with Bruton on Saturday, he tells News 4 he is "embarrassed" and "ashamed" of his behavior that day.
"He just caught the brunt of that from a situation that day. I didn't mean anything towards him. He does a good job and I apologized to him, and I'm making a public apology to him now," said Bruton.
He goes on to say that he is making no excuses for the way he treated the officer.
"I'm embarrassed by it, I'm ashamed of it," said Burton. "My family, I put them in this and I'm ashamed that the city had to even endure it. So I'm hoping that we can get past it and I can grow from it as well"
On Friday, the City Treasurer told News 4 that Bruton, "had no support from the police in anything."
We asked him to explain this and if that played any part in his behavior that day.
"So there's been some issues with that."
He explained that people in town have called him and asked for an officer to come out to a various number of issues, like a trespasser or a conflict.
"I have felt like the police officers have made more excuses to get out of that, and not do their job, rather than just go do it and just be more available to the community to go do those things," said Burton.
While he says it has built up some frustration for him him, he confirmed past tension had nothing to do with what was captured on camera.
Bruton confirmed that the officer in the video still works for the Konawa Police Department.