Deputy Tracy Weiss
Deputy Tracy Weiss
An off-duty Florida sheriff's deputy was caught on video by a tow truck driver she berated as he removed her illegally parked vehicle.

Tracy Weiss, an Orange County sheriff's deputy, became enraged after the driver towed her pickup truck, which was blocking a sidewalk, reported WFTV-TV.

A resident of the Starlight Ranch Retirement Community reported that the deputy's personal vehicle was partially blocking a sidewalk, which is used by senior citizens in wheelchairs.

Weiss ran outside to confront the driver — who recorded the incident on his cell phone. "I'm a cop — get my truck," she said. The driver asked her to put away her gun, which he spotted in the pocket of her shorts.

"You're going to f*cking jail for stealing my car," she said.


John Cowie, manager of Universal Trucking, said Weiss should have faced a $62.50 fee to retrieve her truck, which was authorized to be towed. But he said the off-duty deputy doubled the fine to $125 by holding up the driver more than 15 minutes during the argument. "Nobody likes to get towed — we understand that, it happens," Cowie said. "But if you're getting towed, just pay the drop fee and move on."

He said the driver probably would have just given her the truck back if Weiss had approached him and said she was a deputy. The incident is now the subject of an internal investigation by the sheriff's office, although it's not clear which policies Weiss is accused of violating.

Weiss was suspended for 21 hours without pay in 2008 for violating the department's use of authority policy. She was accused of acting inappropriately in a business arrangement, the TV station reported.

Weiss, an 11-year veteran, was reassigned after the confrontation with the tow truck driver.