A Santa Paula police volunteer officer has been placed on administrative leave after a video posted to her YouTube page of her talking about hating bicyclists was widely criticized on the Department’s Facebook page.
In a YouTube video posted by Laura Weintraub, bicyclists are mocked as she passes them by in a vehicle.
“I hate bicyclists, every single one of them,” she says.
She also asks a man driving her how much she’d have to pay for him to run over a cyclist.
His response: “How much do you have in your wallet right now?”
In the last frame of the video, a photo showing a vehicle crashing into a group of bicyclists is shown with text that reads "Like you've never thought about it..."
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The video began to make waves on the Santa Paula Police Department’s Facebook page in an unrelated post written by Police Chief Steven McLean. In the post he wrote “I had a very active day to day. Think I just might have a beer.”
Several commenters took to the post to voice their disapproval of the video.
“Along with that beer you deserve to be chastised and publicly shamed for condoning such horrible behavior from anyone associated with a police uniform. Hopefully she gets a taste of karma for her form of satire,” wrote Michael Broadbent.
In a response to someone commenting on the video, the Department stated on Facebook that the reserve officer “does some great satire videos in her personal spare time.”
“Stay safe out there riding your bike and remember to obey all the rules of the road, a lot of your fellow bikers seem oblivious to the laws!” they added.
By Saturday morning, another post on the Department Facebook page stated that the reserve officer was placed on administrative leave.
“The purpose of this post is to notify the community that the volunteer who made the video about cyclist has been placed on Administrative Leave pending an investigation,” the post said.
McLean said the video was an embarrassment and that he was in disbelief over her actions.
A second reserve officer was also placed on administrative leave for posting a response to comments on the Department's Facebook page, the police chief said.
"Hopefully it'll teach her a lesson and hopefully she'll respect us cyclists," a bicyclists said.
The video was deleted from Weintraub's YouTube page as of Saturday morning, but at least one other user saved and posted it to their page.
Anyone wishing to discuss the incident was directed to Chief McLean, who could be reached at 805-525-4474, ext. 122.
Jane Yamamoto contributed to this report.
