Florida mayor slams cop's 'dismissive' treatment of Gisele Bündchen after she cried over paparazzi during a traffic stop
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Lauren Edmonds
Apr 28, 2024, 02:23 IST
Gisele Bündchen told a police officer in Surfside, Florida, she was trying to escape the paparazzi following her.Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Gisele Bündchen became emotional during a traffic stop in Surfside, Florida, this week.
Bündchen told a police officer she was trying to evade the paparazzi "stalking" her.
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A Florida mayor has criticized a police officer who pulled over Gisele Bündchen for a traffic stop, calling the behavior toward the supermodel "unacceptable."
Bodycam footage captured the interaction between the police officer and Bündchen, 45, in Surfside — a town about 30 minutes from Miami Beach — on Wednesday. Footage obtained by Fox News Digital showed Bündchen telling the officer she was attempting to escape the paparazzi following her.
The police officer acknowledged her situation but said there was "nothing" he could do about it.
"Yeah, but he's, like, stalking me," Bündchen said.
The police officer then told Bündchen she'd need to contact the Miami Beach Police Department since that's when the paparazzi began following her. After the police officer apologized, Bündchen broke down into tears.
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"I'm so tired," she said. "Everywhere I go I have these fucking guys after me. Nothing protects me. I can't do nothing. I just want to live my life."
The police officer responded that he couldn't stop the paparazzi from doing their job, which is to take photographs.
"I don't know how that's allowed," she said.
Now, Mayor Charles Burkett has lambasted the police officer in a letter addressed to Surfside Police Department's Chief of Police, according to WPLG.
"This response is wholly unacceptable and not reflective of the values, judgement and service residents expect from their police," Burkett wrote. "The dismissive posture towards a resident who is clearly in distress is everything we do not want to see in the way our police interact and serve our residents."
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Interim Police Chief Henry Doce echoed Mayor Burkett's sentiments in a statement to the outlet.
"I would have liked to have seen more empathy at the initial contact to what was going on," Doce said.
Still, Doce added that the police officer is "phenomenal."
"Could we have done better? I think it's a learning opportunity to understand what the dynamics of that situation is," Doce told WPLG.
Representatives for Bündchen and Burkett did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. The Surfside Police Department declined to provide additional comments.
The pair share two children — Benjamin and Vivian — and Brady has a son named John from a previous relationship.
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