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Oklahoma City police captain James Matt French was caught on video repeatedly asking the arresting officer to turn off his body camera after he was pulled over for a suspected DUI on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
As per Fox News, the 55-year-old was pulled over past midnight on Sunday, after the arresting officer saw him speeding on South May Avenue in his unmarked, city-owned SUV. French eventually stopped in a private driveway on SW Grand Blvd.
In body camera footage released by the Oklahoma City Police Department days after his arrest on Thursday, French was captured pleading with the officer to turn off the body camera while throwing his rank around to evade any consequences for driving while under the influence.
What can be seen in the video of James Matt French's arrest?
In the footage, an officer approaches James Matt French’s SUV while he is sitting in his vehicle in the driveway of the home he claimed belonged to him. When asked if he has been drinking, French replies, “I’m a captain of the police department.” He then points to the officer's chest and asks that the latter “turn the camera off.”
The officer proceeded to ignore the repeated gestures to turn off the camera and asked the police captain how drunk he was, though French appeared annoyed at the line of questioning.
When French once again motions for the officer to turn off the camera, he responds by saying “I’m not turning my camera off.”
James Matt French is then captured standing outside his driveway while the officer asks him to perform standard tests for DUI and continues his investigation. The police captain is heard saying he was at a poker game about four blocks away and had three to four beers to drink.
After French is seen struggling to perform field sobriety tests, he implores the officer to please turn off his camera.
The officer, seemingly annoyed at the request, tells French that as a Captain of a department, he should be aware of the standard body cam policy and refuses to turn off the camera. However, French once again pleads with the officer to just turn it off, to which the officer responds:
“I’m a sergeant and I’ve taken an oath to uphold the law. I don’t show favouritism to anyone regardless. I don’t care if you’re a gang banger or the president of the United States.”
French was arrested after failing a field sobriety test and has since been bailed out. In a statement to Fox News, Chief Wade Gourley of the Oklahoma City Police Department praised the arresting officer’s conduct during the incident and said:
“The officer did exactly as he should have, and handled it very professionally, in my opinion. As far as how the officer responded, he did exactly as he should have.”
Gourley told the publication that James Matt French, who has worked in the Oklahoma Police Department for 32 years, was placed on administrative leave while the department reviews the incident.
