NJ School Board Member Allegedly Calls Cop ‘Skinhead’ (VIDEO)

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — A member of the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education has been accused of trying to use her position on the board as leverage to get out of a ticket and calling the local police chief a “skinhead” during a traffic stop last month. The incident was allegedly captured on video (see below).

On Wednesday, the SOMA Black Parents Workshop released a video that apparently captures a traffic stop between Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad and a South Orange police officer.

Lawson-Muhammad’s term on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education began in 2017 and ends in 2019.

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According to the video’s timestamp, the incident took place around 8 a.m. on April 27. In the video, a driver who identifies herself as Lawson-Muhammad is pulled over for allegedly traveling 37 mph in a 25-mph zone.

The driver mentions that she is a member of the local board of education. She then tells the officer that she is “scared of cops because you guys hurt black people.”

When issued two summonses for speeding and failure to have a valid insurance card, the driver begins to protest and say she can’t attend court. She then mentions that she will call South Orange Village President Sheena Collum and “your skinhead cop chief, too.”

>>UPDATE: Read Lawson-Muhammad’s apology for her behavior during the traffic stop here.

The SOMA Black Parents Workshop called for Lawson-Muhammad to resign from her position on the board in the wake of the incident. The group also commended the South Orange officer in the video for his “professionalism and demeanor.”

“This organization… is working diligently to repair the relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community,” President Walter Fields stated Wednesday. “If the situation was reversed, and an officer behaved in this manner toward an African-American civilian, we would have taken the officer and the department to task. We can be no less outraged under the present circumstances.”

Last year, police videos allegedly showed Maplewood officers using excessive force against a group of black youth after the township's Independence Day fireworks event on July 5, 2016. Following the event, officers arrested four teens: three from South Orange and one from Maplewood.

• See related article: SOMA Residents 'Outraged' At Police Use Of Force (VIDEOS)

Watch the video of the April 27 traffic stop below.

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Photo/video courtesy of SOMA Black Parents Workshop

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