A Texas prosecutor spoke out publicly for the first time on Tuesday, Nov. 14, after she got fired on Monday when a video emerged of a heated altercation she had with an Uber driver.
Jody Warner, the now former Dallas County assistant district attorney—looked visibly emotional as she spoke to the media about her foul-mouthed tirade against Uber driver Shaun Platt.
“I embarrassed my family and I embarrassed myself,” Warner told reporters. “That’s not who I am.”
Platt said the former prosecutor started becoming combative and even hit him, belittled him, and made threats against him during the car ride.
On the ride, Warner threatened to call police officers to come and beat up the 26-year-old driver, using harsh language and expletives.
Platt pleaded with the former assistant district attorney to stop, but the tirade continued. In the exchange, Warner used her title as a form of intimidation and implied that her relationship with law enforcement officers would help her in the incident, CBS News reported.
Warner accused Platt of not taking her home, claiming he did not follow the directions given by his navigational device.
“She kept saying she’s an assistant DA and said, ‘Who are they going to believe, you or me?’ and I said, ‘You know what? You’re kind of right,’ so I took out my phone and I recorded it,” Platt told ABC News.
The driver said that at one point Warner told him, “I think this might be a kidnapping,” so he decided to pull over.
“She actually hit me,” Platt claimed, according to ABC News. Warner later denied this.
In her Tuesday press conference, Warner explained that she felt concerned by the driver’s actions at the time when he started taking an unfamiliar route, adding that it escalated when Platt turned down a wrong street.
“I was in an uncomfortable situation,” she told reporters. “I’m not trying to make myself a victim.”
Warner also apologized for the language she used that night.
“I’m very sorry for the language I used. I’m not proud of it,” Warner told reporters.
During the conference, Warner said she was “not trying to make accusations against the driver,” but said that Platt made some accusations against her that “are not true.”
The driver did not file criminal charges against Warner, CBS News reported.
Despite the different accounts of what happened, Warner was fired from her job by Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson on Monday. Warner’s cases in the office have already been reassigned, according to CBS News.
“Her behavior is contrary to this office’s core principle of integrity, and it will not be tolerated,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson also said she contacted the Uber driver and apologized to him for Warner’s actions.
However, not everyone agrees that Warner was entirely in the wrong.
Former Judge Elizabeth Frizell and lawyer Pete Schulte spoke to the media on Tuesday as well, defending Warner, CBS News reports.
“I don’t believe the DA’s office has all the facts,” Frizell said. “I am asking for the DA to take another look at all the facts.”
“He refused to take her home, she became concerned for her safety,” Frizell added.
“This was a hasty move by Ms. Johnson,” Schulte said. He argued that her actions should not be deemed as a fireable offense.
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