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Body camera video of “drunk” Leon Democrat raises questions

Body camera video of “drunk” Leon Democrat raises questions

The Conservative website is timed for the November 5 general election posted a body camera video about an incident in 2022 when police found Ryan Ray, assistant to City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, apparently passed out in his parked car in a gas station parking lot.

The Capitolist, a site founded by Brian Burgess, who served as communications director for then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Republican Party – published an article on Friday with the headline, “Why did Tallahassee police sweep a would-be Leon County Democrat under the rug?”

The story, which emerged five days after the start of early voting, was not just an “October surprise” of political dirt. It also raised questions about the behavior of the Tallahassee police who responded to the call.

Ray, who one officer described as “drunk” in the video, was not arrested and was not involved in the incident. An officer who responded after a gas station attendant called police about an intoxicated customer said he intended to “give him a break” and let him go before asking his name.

The incident occurred around 9:25 p.m. on February 8, 2022 at the Circle K at Seventh Avenue and Monroe Street near Tallahassee Police Headquarters. It shows an officer approaching his car with a flashlight and waking him up by knocking on the driver’s side door.

The officer asked why he was sleeping in his car and if he knew where he was. Ray struggled to answer. The officer asked how he got into the parking lot and if he had “anything” to drink. Ray said “understood” to the first question, but did not answer the second.

“Look, you’re sitting in the car, the car’s not running, okay,” the officer said. “Do you have someone who can pick you up?”

Ray then called his girlfriend, who spoke to the officer. Soon after, she showed up and was allowed to ride with Ray in the passenger seat.

Before she arrived, the officer continued to question Ray, who said he had been at the Governor’s Club earlier in the evening. He asked Ray where he worked, and after learning that he was an assistant commissioner, which commissioner did he work for. The officer guessed Matlow by pointing to a bumper sticker on his car.

“How do you think Mr. Matlow would feel if he came here and saw you sitting here across from the Circle K drunk sitting in your car,” the officer asked. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

“No sir,” Ray replied. The officer then went on to caution Ray for being “obviously intoxicated” in his car.

“Duh? Maybe. But I will say this: If I caught you driving down that road, you could definitely kill someone,” the officer said.

The Capitolist did not disclose when or how it obtained the body camera footage.

“Was the decision to allow Ray to call to drive him home influenced by his connections to local politics, or was this an incompetent breach of standard police protocol?” Burgess wrote in history. “These are questions that deserve answers to ensure accountability and maintain public trust in both law enforcement and local government.”

TPD did not initially respond to a number of questions from the Democrat, including whether the officers followed policies and procedures.

Ray, who was elected chairman of the Leon County Democratic Party Executive Committee in December 2022, declined to comment for this article. However, he has been open about his struggles with alcohol in the past. In a Facebook post on August 6, 2022, he wrote that he had been sober for 67 days at the time.

“I couldn’t have done this without the support of an incredible community of friends and allies,” Ray wrote. “Good people know how to find each other through community efforts. I look forward to many more victories, both personal and others.”

Matlow stood by Ray in the Democrat’s comments.

“My father suffered from alcoholism all his life and eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver,” he said in the text. “I’ve been sober for 15 years, so this is personal for me. In politics, people will always try to attack you on your worst days. Ryan admitted his mistake many years ago and decided to stop drinking completely. I’m proud of him for that.”

In 2022, the Miami Herald reported that Capitolist was secretly financed by Florida Power & Light executives. Ray has been highly critical of FPL and claims it wants it to take control of Tallahassee’s private utility company.

Ray is not the only local party leader to have had a run-in with the police during an alleged drunken driving incident.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Evan Power, who also chairs the Leon County Republican Party, was detained and charged with ICE after hitting a parked car in 2018. The charge was eventually reduced to a charge of reckless driving, court records show.

Contact Jeff Berlew at [email protected] or 850-599-2180.