Democrat Senator HANDCUFFED After Confrontation With Police
Earlier this month, a state Democratic senator found herself briefly arrested and handcuffed after refusing to hand over her driver’s license during a traffic stop and arguing with an Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy.
On the afternoon of Saturday, January 11, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, State Senator Regina Goodwin, a Democrat representing Tulsa, had a prolonged dispute with Tulsa County Sheriff’s Deputy Freddie Alaniz, as seen in body camera footage obtained by Fox News Digital.
The video begins with Alaniz’s body-worn camera capturing a tense exchange between the senator and the deputy. According to Alaniz, he pulled Goodwin over after witnessing her run two stop signs.
The footage shows that as soon as Goodwin pulled over, she exited her vehicle and began raising her voice at the deputy, who repeatedly requested her driver’s license while explaining the reason for the stop.
“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 said after making several attempts to obtain her license. “I’m not going to ask you again. It’s not for debate.”
Goodwin accused the officer of “escalating” the situation during their heated back-and-forth.
“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 replied.
Goodwin questioned why arrest was even being considered: “I think you really escalated something. No, sir — that is, why would that even be an option for you?”
Alaniz responded, “Because you’re refusing to give me your driver’s license.”
“There was no refusal of me to give you my driver’s license,” Goodwin said.
“I asked you over five times to give me your driver’s license, and you kept debating your driver’s license,” Alaniz countered.
“I was not at all debating my driver’s license, sir, that is not correct,” she replied.
After the heated exchange, Alaniz took Goodwin into custody and placed her in his patrol car. Her attorney, Mike Manning, who arrived at 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 replied, as captured on the camera. “I don’t need to ask her 10 times for her driver’s license.”
“I saw it. I realize,” Manning responded.
“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,” Alaniz 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.”
Alaniz also called his superior to the scene, explaining that he stopped Goodwin for running two stop signs and “hauling butt” down the road.
“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 explained. “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,” he added.
Goodwin, who was elected to the state Senate in 2024 after a decade in the state House, was released at the scene with a citation for failing to stop at a stop sign. If the ticket is not paid in advance, she will be required to appear in court on February 25 at 9 a.m., according to Fox News.