Martin Hyde, a congressional candidate from the Sarasota area, has released a public apology following a recent traffic stop where he threatened to end the career of the officer who pulled him over.

“I tried to bully her,” Hyde said of the Feb. 14 traffic stop. “I am not proud of it.”

The incident happened at the corner of Fruitville Road and Euclid Avenue. The entire encounter was captured on the officer’s body-worn camera.

In the video, the female officer explains to Hyde that he is being pulled over for speeding and texting while driving.

Less than 30 seconds into their interaction, Hyde says to the officer, “you know who I am, right?” He then tells her, “I’ll just call the chief, how about that?”

The video shows Hyde question the officer’s nationality when she returns with citations for speeding, texting while driving and failure to produce a registration.

“Is it your Russian immigrant status that makes you talk to people like this?” Hyde asked.

Video from the traffic stop also shows the congressional candidate threatening to end the officer’s career with the police department.

The officer called for her supervisor to respond and also called for a backup unit, citing “the driver being extremely uncooperative.”

“We’re going to make sure that she pays the price for being disrespectful,” Hyde said to one of the officers who responded as backup.

Hyde spoke with WFLA on Wednesday about the traffic stop and said he happened to be in a grumpy mood that day. He said he respects law enforcement officers and added that his oldest son is a sheriff’s deputy.

“So this isn’t a question of Martin Hyde disliking cops, this is a question of Martin Hyde being in ratty mood on a Monday morning and acting in a way that he regrets,” he said. “I am sorry. And I would like to think that I will learn from it. I would like to think other people might learn something from it too.”

He released the following statement on social media addressing the incident:

“Just over a week ago I was stopped in Sarasota for speeding. During the stop I was belligerent and rude to the officer who stopped me. Much interest has been shown in local media and many comments made as to my behavior. I’m not going to justify my poor temper on that day or attempt to mitigate it in any way. There will be some who will say it’s not the first time I’ve acted out and they’d be right. I have faults and one of them is to be overly aggressive on occasion when I’m challenged. In the political arena that is possibly a good thing but on a personal level it’s not. I’ve apologized to the officer in question, and now I’m apologizing to the community as a whole. I’m going to do my utmost to behave better going forward. I’m not running away though as that’s not in my nature. There is nothing more I can say or will say on this subject other than I’m sorry for any offence caused to anyone.”

Sarasota Police are not commenting on the incident. However, a spokesperson told 8 On Your Side the officers actions are not being reviewed.

Hyde is challenging Rep. Vern Buchanan in a Republican primary for the chance to represent Florida’s 16th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He said if he wasn’t running for public office, he’s not sure his recent interaction with officers would be a big deal.

“I think people need to get a little bit of perspective. While I am sorry and while I accept that it shouldn’t have happened, many, many worse things are happening all over the world every single day,” he said. “And part of the reason I am running is to make sure we live in a better world.”

The Sarasota County Republican Party is controlled by a small group of self-appointed elites and special interests that I have never liked – and now I can say that.

All of the current statehouse representatives, with the exception of one, are from wealthy, influential families who used their money to get them into office. All of them crave higher office despite doing nothing to have earned the elected offices that they now hold. And until we do something about this form of elitism, my childish behavior will pale in comparative importance.

Hyde would not comment to Florida Politics following the release of footage. His long-standing Facebook page “Martin Hyde Sarasota Citizen” was taken out of public view on Thursday. Asked at the time if that signaled news about his campaign, he emailed, “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

News broke Friday morning, not in a news article but in a letter published by the Herald-Tribune.

The signature line at the bottom of the piece read: “Martin Hyde is a Sarasota businessman and a former Republican Party candidate for Florida’s 16th Congressional District.”

Hyde later emailed stating: “I remain the only official spokesperson for Martin Hyde or my campaign. If I feel there is something worthy of making a statement about I will do so. For now nothing is official.”

For the moment, Hyde’s federal campaign accounts remain open and his official campaign website remains live.

Of note, he has backtracked from reactions to controversy before.

During his last run for City Commission, Hyde suggested he would drop out of the race after a video went viral showing him berating Puerto Rican teens at the Bath & Racquet Club in Sarasota. He ultimately decided to continue his campaign, which he lost in 2019 to incumbent Commissioner Liz Alpert.