SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey education panel has recommended a six-month suspension for a school board member caught on camera cursing at a police officer and calling the chief a “skinhead cop.”
The School Ethics Commission announced its decision Tuesday. It found South Orange-Maplewood School Board Member Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad leveraged her position and tried to use her relationship with another top official to get out of a traffic ticket.
Lawson-Muhammad was heard using profanity when being issued tickets by the South Orange officer in dashcam video of the April 27 traffic stop. Lawson-Muhammad, who is black, was heard telling the white police officer that she’s “scared of cops because you guys hurt black people.”
She issued a public apology a few weeks later, saying she allowed her emotions to overwhelm her as she was trying to get her kids to school.
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