Sandra Doorley issues written apology following viral confrontation with Webster officer

After releasing a 30-second video to the community, Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley is offering a new mea culpa in a written column she sent to the Democrat and Chronicle.

"The measure of person isn’t whether you make a mistake — it’s whether you admit it and commit to do better," Doorley writes in the column. "Last week, I made a mistake. A big one."

Doorley's transgressions during her speeding ticket incident are well known now, having gone viral because of the body-worn camera video from a Webster police officer.

Guest column by Sandra Doorley: ‘I made a colossal mistake’

Having refused to stop immediately with the officer behind her, she instead pulls into her nearby home, ignores some of the officer's requests for information, telephones his police chief, calls the officer an "a-hole," claims she will take the ticket and prosecute herself, and is generally dismissive of him and abusive toward him.

(How viral has the video gone? A Google search of "Sandra Doorley and ticket" brings up more than 7 million responses, though some are likely repetitive.)

As of Thursday afternoon, when the column was submitted, Doorley has agreed to only one media interview — that one with WHEC-TV (Channel 10). She has not agreed to an interview with the Democrat and Chronicle.

In her column, Doorley largely repeats what was said in her video earlier this week.

"This is no excuse, but it’s undeniable that I had just left a day where I was dealing with three murder cases — including watching a video of a cab driver being murdered," she writes. "And I’d just learned of a frightening medical issue that my husband was informed about earlier that afternoon.

"But even a day that bad can’t excuse what I did. Elected officials have a higher standard. That’s why I’m holding myself accountable through my actions.

"Some wonder why I didn’t just pull over," she continued. "There’s no good answer. My mind was reeling with the upsetting events of the day, and I displayed extremely poor judgment."

Doorley has entered a guilty plea to speeding and reported herself to an attorney grievance committee, which could discipline her.

There have been calls for her resignation. Many of those calls have split along political lines: She is a Republican, and many in her party have supported her. Many in the Democratic fold have called for resignation or thorough investigations.

The Rochester police union also issued a statement in her support.

"I know there are some who want me to resign," Doorley writes. "But the people elected me and I have work to do. People don’t expect their leaders to be perfect, but they do expect us to be accountable."

Doorley was first elected in 2011 and won re-election last year in a contest in which she was unopposed.

In an interview last week with the Democrat and Chronicle a day before the release of the police video, Doorley said she telephoned the Webster police chief at first to alert him that she planned to drive into her driveway and did not want the officer to think she was a threat.

She repeats this in her column: "Others have asked why I called the police chief. As District Attorney, I talk to police chiefs all the time. I wanted to tell him I was not a threat, and I’d talk to his officer in my driveway rather than on the roadway. But it was stupid. I wish I hadn’t done it."

Doorley's office has also asked the Onondaga District Attorney's Office to review the incident. This is not a selection of a special prosecutor, but instead a review to decide whether such steps should or can be taken.

Doorley ends her column thusly: "I will hold myself accountable while still leading this office. I made a colossal mistake, but I will make this right. And I humbly ask for forgiveness."

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Sandra Doorley issues written apology after confrontation with officer