A cell phone video obtained by NBC Miami on Wednesday shows a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy demanding the phone from another driver during an off-duty road rage incident, authorities said.
Deputy Paul Pletcher, 37, faces charges including battery, burglary and criminal mischief in connection to last year’s incident. He surrendered Monday and was released from the Broward Main Jail on $6,100 bond, according to jail records.
Pletcher, who has been with the department since October 2004, was suspended without pay, sheriff's spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said.
Pletcher’s arrest stems from a May 23, 2011 incident in Plantation, in which he was off-duty but was armed and driving his patrol car, according to a Broward County arrest warrant. He got into an argument with Neyda Osorio, a female motorist, allegedly berating her with profanity and yelling racial slurs and "inappropriate hand gestures" before pulling her over, the warrant said.
When he saw a passenger in her car recording the incident on a cell phone, he allegedly grabbed the phone and her driver's license and drove away. The device was later found in pieces, scattered over several blocks, but the phone's memory wasn't damaged and had captured the encounter, according to the warrant.
According to the cell phone video, Pletcher allegedly asked for the phone nine times, even threatening jail. Meanwhile, the driver, Neyda Osorio, says “Don’t touch me,” repeatedly.
Authorities said Pletcher reached over Osorio, restraining her neck and arms as he took the phone from her purse.
"She is afraid to go to the people that we’ve all been raised to believe you go to when you’re in trouble because they’re the ones who did this to her,” said her attorney Edward McGee.
When the video was reviewed, officers were able to identify Pletcher, the warrant said.
It wasn't immediately known if Pletcher had an attorney.
