Jesuit trained Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins threatens to arrest reporter plays the race card

Video Transcript:

for the past several days 25 investigates has been looking into an allegation involving Suffolk County District Attorney Rachel Rollins. Our team spoke exclusively with the woman making the claim and reviewed a citizen's complaint she filed with Boston Police. 25 investigates reporter Ted Daniel takes us through how this story unfolded. 25 investigates was contacted by a doorchester woman who told us she had a run in with Suffolk County DA Rachel Rollins. Before coming to us, she reported the incident to both the Boston Police and the Attorney General's Office. We decided to look into this viewer's tip. Rollins is a public official. Here is where the story took us. I 1000 percent thought that she was a police officer. Friday afternoon 25 investigates spoke exclusively with a state employee from Dorchester. Katie Lawson filed a complaint with Boston Police about a run in she says she had with DA Rollins in the South Bay Mall parking lot, Chris Maseve. She pulled her car on the level three inches from my car and said, do you want me to write you a ticket? Because I'll write you a ticket. Put on the sirens, put on the strobe lights for like probably a couple of seconds. According to Lawson's complaint, Rollins told her quote, today is not the day to try me. The only person I know that can write you a ticket is an actual police officer. So she implied in my opinion, she implied that she was a police officer. I thought she was a police officer. That's why I called the police department. Lawson provided us with a picture. Her fiance took showing the license plate on the vehicle. She says Rollins was driving. 25 investigates wanted to confirm if that was in fact the government issued SUV assigned to Rollins. A 25 investigates photographer and producer first went to our office to look for it. They did not see the vehicle. Later in the afternoon, they went to Rollins's street. That's when they encountered the DA. She was not alone. She was with the plain cloak Boston police officer. This is the encounter in its entirety from the moment our photographer turned his camera on to when it was turned off. Ma'am. My kids are inside. Can we speak to you for one second this one? You're in front of my house. We, my children. We literally just pulled up here. Yeah, but how do you know where I live? Oh, it's public record, ma'am. Right. OK. That's unbelievable. We're not stopping you at all. Yeah. But my kids are inside. Oh, we never even knocked the door. We're just blocking her trying to figure out we were going. And someone said we saw you here. Yeah. OK. Thanks. Yeah. I'm going to please make sure that you're in front of my house with my children inside. And you're going to put this on here. Yeah. So as a black woman in this moment in this country, you're going to put my house on the screen. No, no, no, man. We're just here approaching you to ask you a question. Get away from my family. Speak to me at my job. If I get hurt or harmed because of this, you are on the record for that. Where my kids are, are are killed. Who do you think you are? Get this is private property. Get out of here. Absolutely. Get out of here. And you know what I'll do? I'll call the police on you and make an allegation. And we'll see how that works with you. So the rentings of a white woman get you here and scare my children. Get off of our private property. And I swear to God, I'm dead serious. I will find your name. You can ask me somewhere else. I can give you a name. Do not have a camera in front of my house. I can give you my name. Get her. Get the money here. This is the boss of the police. I will have you arrested. I swear to God. It's up in my children are going to be hurt. We're just here to ask the question. We didn't even know where you live. Get away from my house. I'm serious. Please, please. OK, we're working a step away. Thank you. I don't respect you. Absolutely. OK. In the video, Rollins says, and you know what I'll do? I'll call the police on you and make an allegation. And we'll see how that works with you. During the call Friday night, I ask Rollins about that. She never directly addressed it. Instead, she repeatedly said, at the time she didn't know who our news crew was and believed they were there to harm her. She reiterated that in this tweet. Surely, after we made her spokesperson aware that her photographer, who had his camera on his shoulder, had the encounter on video. It reads, earlier today, a masked white man jumped out of a truck parked in front of my home, walked quickly to me while in audibly speaking. He opened his trunk and grabbed something, took it out, and aimed it at me. I was terrified and turned away. My children were there. I thought, we the tweet ends there. The masked man, Rollins, referenced, is a 25 investigates photographer. The thing he was grabbing from the trunk of his news vehicle was a 25-pound television camera. Yes, he was wearing a mask, as required by the governor, due to the pandemic. And I swear to God, I'm dead serious. Our crew never went to Rollins' door and never planned to. And they didn't see children anywhere near her. We never took video of Rollins' home. Rollins was the first to make the encounter public. She tweeted four times about it. We wanted to give the DA the opportunity to address the situation on camera before we went to error our story. We made multiple attempts to schedule an on-camera interview, but our request was eventually declined late Tuesday afternoon. Rollins' spokesperson issued a statement to 25 investigates. I'm going to read the entire thing, unedited. District Attorney Rollins' ran for office, was elected, and has led with unprecedented transparency and access. She has been and remains available to her constituents, colleagues, and members of the media. It has never avoided a difficult conversation. Indeed, she had an on-the-record telephone conversation with you Friday night. She will continue to lead in this manner, fully understanding and expecting the scrutiny that comes with being an elected public official. But this past Friday was something different, some 48 hours after our country witnessed an attack on those very same elected officials, an unknown vehicle with an unknown man approached her in front of her home where she is the mother and guardian to three young girls. And she responded not as an elected official, but as a mother and aunt and a caregiver, who believes her primary responsibility is to love and protect her family. District Attorney Rollins has long been an advocate for the protection of the privacy and safety of the families of government officials. She deserves the same. So I'm traveling down here. As for Katie Lawson, the DA's office will only tell us the DA has a very different version of what transpired at South Bay. It is disappointing, but not surprising in these times, that the DA must face such falsehoods. Rachel Rollins, District Attorney of Suffolk County, thanks again for being with us. Rollins went on the Howie Car Show Friday evening and confirmed the run-in with Katie. I then hit a siren that goes, eh-eh, in her head snap-up. And I say, stop. You're in the wrong role of traffic. And go back to my life. That is the extent of that encounter. There is absolutely no truth to me putting blue lights on and flying around South Bay. Katie Lawson is file complaints with Boston Police and the State Attorney General, claiming Rollins overstep to her authority. Both agencies tell me they examine all the complaints they receive. We will continue to monitor it. For 25 Investigates, I'm Ted Daniel.