A longtime Democratic senator from Oklahoma was handcuffed by local police after refusing to follow orders during a simple traffic stop over the weekend.
Footage obtained by Fox News showed State Sen. Regina Goodwin, a top Democrat from Tulsa, repeatedly arguing with Tulsa County Sheriff’s Deputy Freddie Alaniz shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The scene was recorded by Alaniz’s body-worn camera and began with a tense exchange between the deputy and the elected official.
Goodwin was pulled over after Alaniz said that he witnessed the official fail to stop at two stop signs.
After pulling her over, Alaniz asked Goodwin for her driver’s license, which she refused to show.
The situation escalated after that.
Below is a word-for-word exchange between Alaniz and Goodwin.
“Ma’am, I’m not going to ask you again. Can I get your driver’s license, or can I take you to jail on running a stop sign?” Alaniz asked Goodwin shortly after pulling her over and asking repeatedly for her license.
“I’m not going to ask you again. It’s not for debate.”
The two continued their back-and-forth, with Goodwin arguing that the officer was “escalating” the traffic stop.
“That is not true. That is not true at all. I was having a conversation, and you just all of a sudden said, ‘I’ll arrest you,'” Goodwin said.
“No, I said, ‘Or, I can arrest you if that’s what you want,'” Alaniz said.
“I think you really escalated something,” she said. “No, sir — that is, why would that even be an option for you?”
Alaniz: “Because you’re refusing to give me your driver’s license.”
Goodwin: “There was no refusal of me to give you my driver’s license.”
“I asked you over five times to give me your driver’s license, and you kept debating your driver’s license,” the officer responded.
“I was not at all debating my driver’s license, sir, that is not correct,” she replied.
Alaniz detained Goodwin in handcuffs and placed her in his patrol vehicle.
Her attorney, Mike Manning, who witnessed the scene, spoke with the deputy.
“I realize you have a job to do, officer,” Manning said. “I realize Sen. Goodwin can be a little bit strong-headed at times, but don’t you think you can write her a citation or something? She’ll give you her driver’s license.”
“Yeah, yeah, I can absolutely do that,” Alaniz said. “I don’t need to ask her 10 times for her driver’s license.”
Manning replied: “I saw it. I realize.”
“I don’t have an issue writing her a citation or letting her go, but I’m the one that’s in command of the traffic stop, not her,” the officer said.
“She blatantly ran two stop signs, and I was just going to give her a verbal warning and tell her not to do that, but her demeanor — the way that she was — I can’t have that.”
The officer also called his superior to the scene, saying he pulled Goodwin over for rolling two stop signs and “hauling butt” down the Tulsa street.
“She ran this stop sign back here and the other one that’s a little further down. Just came up, slowed down, and then [zoom] right through them,” Alaniz said.
“She was driving so fast that, when she was hitting the puddles of water, it was just [splash] shooting them out. So that’s why I came up and pulled her over. And as I was getting out, she got out of her car, ‘Why are you stopping me?’ You know, just kind of got very verbal. I asked for her driver’s license numerous, numerous times, and she wouldn’t give it to me.”
Goodwin was eventually released at the scene with a citation for failure to stop at a stop sign.
Here’s the entire video footage of the traffic stop:
She faces a Feb. 25 court appearance at 9 a.m. unless she pays the ticket beforehand, according to Fox News.
Goodwin represents Oklahoma’s 11th District. She was elected to the state Senate in 2024, and previously served in the state’s House of Representatives from 2014-2024.