On Thursday, District Attorney Sandra Doorley released a statement about a speeding ticket she received Monday in her home town of Webster and a call she made to the Webster police chief as the officer was behind her. The statement prompted plenty of social media chatter. Here is what we can tell you from what we know.
How did this start?
On Wednesday, stories began circulating about Doorley’s speeding ticket, her call to the police chief and interaction with the Webster officer. The Democrat and Chronicle first heard of the incident that evening, and without firm outlines of the entire incident or assurances of what was true.
On Thursday morning, the Democrat and Chronicle reached out to the DA’s Office, which confirmed the ticket and which set up an afternoon call with Doorley. The office later in the day released Doorley’s statement.
What was the ticket for?
Doorley was driving 55 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone. She has pleaded guilty to the ticket already, acknowledging the offense.
Why the interest and the statement?
Doorley did not pull over immediately with the officer behind her. In the interview she said she at first thought he was possibly going to pull over someone else, then she realized her speeding.
Instead of stopping immediately, Doorley said, she turned onto her home street in Webster because there was less traffic there and she then pulled into her driveway. She acknowledged that she called Webster Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier from her car with the officer behind her.
This, unsurprisingly, has been the spark of social media chatter, with many noting that few people would be able to telephone a police chief in the midst or an interaction with police. Doorley said she wanted the chief to alert the officer as to who she was so he would know there was no possible danger to him after the stop since she did not stop immediately.
“Less than half a mile from my neighborhood, I noticed a Webster Police car behind me,” she said in the statement. “Once I realized that the intention of the car was to pull me over, I called the Webster Police Chief to inform him that I was not a threat and that I would speak to the Officer at my house down the street.”
What about the interaction with the officer?
It’s unclear whether the officer knew who Doorley was, not that this should matter. The Democrat and Chronicle has reached out to Webster police.
In her statement, Doorley said: “By 1:00PM the following day (after the ticketing), I pled guilty and sent the ticket to the Webster Town Court because I believe in accepting responsibility for my actions and had no intention of using my position to receive a benefit. Nobody, including your District Attorney, is above the rule of law, even traffic laws.”
However, Doorley acknowledged that there was friction in her interaction with the officer in her driveway. Perhaps this was prompted by the fact that Doorley had the chief on the phone at the very time she was being ticketed. Again, it’s unclear whether the officer was aware of this as he pulled into Doorley’s driveway.
If there is body-worn camera of the interaction, “the camera will show that I’m agitated,” she said. She said there were misunderstandings between her and the officer about why she did not stop immediately.
Any video would also show that at the end of their interaction the officer thanked her for her work on behalf of law enforcement, Doorley said. Doorley typically has the backing of law enforcement unions and has successfully prosecuted two men who murdered Rochester police officers.
Is this the end with this incident?
Who knows? If video is released, that could prompt more interest. But as far as the speeding ticket, that is clearly resolved.
— Gary Craig is a veteran reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle, covering courts and crime and more. He is the author of two books, including “Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink’s Heist.”