State Sen. Regina Goodwin traffic stop video

UPDATE 2025/01/26: Sen. Goodwin has paid the traffic citation online, pleading nolo contendere. News on 6 initially mis-reported the disposition of the case; details at the bottom of this entry.

State Sen. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa) refused to cooperate with a Tulsa County Sheriff's deputy during a routine traffic stop in downtown Tulsa, refusing repeatedly to produce her driver's license, resulting in her briefly being handcuffed and sat in the back of the deputy's vehicle. The stop occurred on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at 1:23 pm, at the corner of Cincinnati and Archer. Deputy Freddy Alaniz informed Sen. Goodwin that she had run two consecutive stop signs without coming to a complete stop. During the traffic stop Goodwin's attorney Mike Manning, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, and District 4 City Councilor Laura Bellis all walked up to the scene, with Manning and Nichols both speaking to law enforcement officials. Goodwin was issued a citation and allowed to go on her way.

KOTV News on 6 was the first with the story. In response to BatesLine's Open Records request, the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office provided all the bodycam footage from the three deputies who responded to the location. TCSO blurred or bleeped any personally identifying information, such as dates of birth and addresses. The videos released by TCSO have now been uploaded unedited to Rumble and are embedded below (click the "Continue reading" if you're on the home page). Many thanks to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Public Information Office for their prompt response to the request.

Goodwin did almost everything you shouldn't do during a traffic stop. She did pull over, but rather than waiting for the officer to approach her, she got out of her car and walked toward the deputy's vehicle, she began arguing about whether she had run the stop signs, and she refused to produce her driver's license when requested.

Deputy Alaniz asked ten times for her driver's license, and on the 10th occasion he explained that the consequence of not producing her license would be a trip to jail. At that point she projected her voice toward the open driver's side door on her vehicle, repeating what was said about going to jail, perhaps attempting to be heard by someone on the other end of a phone call via the car's Bluetooth system. (There did not appear to be anyone else in the vehicle.) Alaniz asked for her driver's license five more times, for a total of fifteen times, and after Goodwin said "Do what you gotta do" the second time, he told her to turn around and place her hands behind her back. He proceeded to handcuff her and had her sit down in the back of his patrol car.

Attorney Mike Manning can be seen walking up to the scene from the east at about 2 minutes into the video. He stood on the curb and recorded the interaction between Goodwin and Alaniz on his phone. After Goodwin was seated in the car, Manning asked if he could approach and speak to the deputy. When the deputy asked for a moment to close Goodwin's driver's side car door and Manning walked in the same direction, there was a brief feedback ring, possibly indicating that a phone call between Goodwin's phone and Manning was still connected. This may explain how Manning was on the scene so quickly: Goodwin may have either been on the phone with him as she was driving or called him as soon as she had been pulled over. Manning told the deputy, "We were getting ready to meet."

Manning showed Alaniz his courthouse access badge and Oklahoma Bar Association license, and then said, "I realize Senator Goodwin can be a little strongheaded at times, but don't you think...." His comments are hard to hear as Alaniz directs him out of traffic and back to the side of the road, but Manning asked about just issuing a citation. Alaniz told Manning he had only intended to give Goodwin a verbal warning, but Goodwin's refusal to cooperate with his instructions meant he had to proceed with an arrest. When Manning asked to speak with Goodwin, Alaniz readily agreed.

As Manning attempted to get Goodwin to "take a deep breath" and cooperate, Goodwin continued to filibuster and argue. Eventually she gave her name and date of birth verbally to Alaniz, who then ran the information on his car's laptop. About that time, Deputy Caleb Stout arrived on the scene. Alaniz gave Stout the story so far and mentioned that Manning and "some other people" had been recording the interaction. "When he was telling me that she was a senator, something like that, I was like, yeah, better get Corporal up here."

Historically, state legislators have been entitled to a special license plate with H or S followed by the district number, e.g. S-11 for Goodwin's Senate District 11, but the car Goodwin was driving had a specialty Historic Greenwood District plate instead, PAYBWS, which appears to be advocating for reparations to victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (BWS standing for Black Wall Street).

Alaniz did not stop or cite Goodwin for speeding, but he mentioned to each of his fellow deputies that she was traveling at a high rate of speed, telling Stout, "she was bookin' it down Archer," and later telling Deputy Corporal Swatzenbarg that she was "haulin' butt, she was going so fast that when she was hitting the puddles of water they were shooting out."

While Alaniz was completing the citation, Stout and Goodwin were standing on the sidewalk, and Manning walked back up. At 1:40 pm, Manning asked for confirmation from Stout that a citation was being written. Stout said that Goodwin would be allowed to go on her way, and then Manning walked off to the east. A minute later, Bellis can be seen on Stout's bodycam crossing Archer and then approaching Goodwin from her right. Bellis was not visible at this point (Stout is on Goodwin's left) but can be heard asking, "Do you want me to call anybody?" Goodwin replied, "Mike was just here." Bellis responded, "Just checking. Let me know if you need anything, OK?" Bellis can then be seen walking back to the corner of Archer and Cincinnati, appearing to make a phone call and then walking back to the other side of Archer.

At 1:46 pm, 23 minutes after the traffic stop began, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols walked up to Stout and Goodwin, asking, "What's going on?" As Goodwin continued to argue with Alaniz about what happened, Nichols interrupted: "Senator, senator, senator, let's, let's, let's take care of it in court." When Goodwin showed annoyance and confusion over the answer to her question about paying the fine versus going to court, Nichols intervened to try to calm Goodwin down and bring the encounter to a conclusion: "You misunderstood what she was asking. It's all good. Let's go ahead and get this taken care of."

City Councilor Laura Bellis returned at this point and began speaking to Nichols. She was dressed as if for an exercise or yoga class, was carrying a large insulated mug, and said something to Nichols about needing to get her nails done. She didn't interact with the deputies at all and didn't appear to interact with Goodwin this time, walking off at 1:51 pm as the deputies were returning to their vehicles.

Goodwin was given a citation with a court date of February 25, 2025. The case number is TR-2025-581.

This is not Goodwin's first traffic citation. She was twice stopped by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for speeding 11-15 MPH above the limit on the Indian Nations Turnpike, in August 2000 and April 2003. In August 2003, she was cited for an expired license plate on a 1999 Mazda. In 2012, Goodwin was stopped by a Creek County deputy on State Highway 51 near Silver City for speeding; she pled nolo contendere and paid the ticket. In 2021, Goodwin was sued by a collection agency for an unpaid medical bill from 2017 for $2,397.42.

(Someone named "Regina L. Goodwin," with a different date of birth and vehicle, a 1990 Mercedes, was cited in July 2003 for an expired plate and lack of insurance verification; a bench warrant was issued for failure to appear for these citations, and a notice of suspension was "RETURNED BY DPS UNABLE TO SUSPEND. NO RECORD FOUND FOR LICENSE NUMBER." This may be a strange coincidence involving someone else with a similar name, or it may reflect transcription errors.)

I have twice in my life been pulled over for failing to come to a full stop. As a senior in high school, I was driving downtown, heading south on Denver and turned right on 6th Street against a red light without coming to a complete stop. There happened to be a detective in an unmarked car right behind me, heading back to police HQ, who saw what happened and pulled me over.

Many years later, I was driving through my neighborhood and did a rolling stop at a four-way stop intersection, and there happened to be a police officer there specifically because of complaints from nearby residents about drivers failing to stop and speeding on that street, a cut-through street through the neighborhood. The officer told me that he ought to be able to count the lugnuts -- in other words, the car would need to be motionless for at least three seconds, long enough for someone to count to five.

In both cases, I pulled over, rolled down my window, answered the questions the officer asked, and produced my driver's license when I was instructed to do so. I didn't argue. In the second case, I had to pay for and attend an all-day-Saturday defensive driving school to avoid getting points on my license.

Throughout the incident, the sheriff's deputies acted with courtesy, patience, and professionalism. I didn't see anything untoward in the actions of Manning, Nichols, or Bellis. Manning and Nichols seemed anxious to mollify Goodwin. My guess is that Bellis called Nichols (possibly before we first see her on bodycam) to ask him to come by, but Manning may have made the call.

The only person in the situation with a reason to be embarrassed is State Sen. Regina Goodwin, who behaved like a spoiled brat throughout the incident, even after her brief timeout in the back of the squad car. The reactions of Manning and Nichols seem to indicate that this kind of behavior is nothing new for her. We hope that she will find the grace and humility to acknowledge and apologize for her inappropriate behavior.