26-year-old Stephanie Roggina, a rookie cop with the Scotch Plains Police Department in New Jersey, is seen in video above apparently trying to slur her way out of arrest by referencing her badge and boss.
It happened last year on August 26. After a short but wild chase, the rookie cop finally relents and pulls her vehicle over. She then proceeds to argue with the arresting officer, Lt. Scott Crater, insisting she wasn’t running away and didn’t crash. But, again, she relents, this time taking a different tack. Roggina mumbles out the name of her former boss and asks Crater if he knows him. Fully unmoved, Crater begins to Mirandize his fellow officer, who says:
“I’m a cop. I work in Scotch Plains. My number is 140.”
Crater replies: “Well, then you should know better, right?”
“Obviously,” Roggina says, before name-dropping her former boss once again. It still doesn’t seem to work.
Eventually, Roggina is taken away.
She was charged with various offenses, including one count of resisting arrest–which was eventually downgraded to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for which she paid a $125 fine, according to The Trentonian. The outcome of her other charges is presently unknown.
After her arrest and indictment on October 13, 2016, she was immediately suspended without pay; the Scotch Plains Police Department declined to comment Tuesday to The Trentonian on her current status. It does makes sense the thin blue line is staying mum here. The above video was only released following a lawsuit by the outlet.
[image via screengrab; video courtesy Scotch Plains Police Department/The Trentonian/YouTube]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
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