'I run the county,' Florida county commissioner declares during traffic stop

A Florida county commissioner pulled over twice for speeding in luxury cars boasted of his title and, in one case, declared, "I run the county," according to Florida Highway Patrol video.

Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins, 51, was pulled over June 2 in Seminole County and June 19 in Flagler County for allegedly speeding.

In the latter incident, Mullins boasted his position to the trooper who stopped him for reportedly driving 92 mph in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 95, according to the citation report.

Dashcam video of the June 19 stop shared by Florida Highway Patrol showed a trooper explaining the citation process to Mullins, who is sitting behind the wheel of a 2013 Ferrari 458 Spider.

Mullins appears to interject and says, “I run the county. I run the county so I know how it works. I'm the chairman of the county."

“You run the county?” the trooper asks. “I just have to explain your options. I don’t want any miscommunication so I just have to explain it, OK?”

Attempts to reach Mullins through his commission email address and a business email address were unsuccessful. The commission, the county administrator, the Republican Party of Flagler County, and the Florida Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A county spokeswoman referred a request for comment to the administrator, who had yet to respond.

In the June 2 incident, Mullins was pulled over for allegedly driving a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SUV 89 mph in a section of Interstate 4 with a 60 mph speed limit, according to the citation report.

A report by Florida Highway Patrol on the June 2 incident described Mullins as a “county commissioner," said that he was “extremely condescending, belligerent, illogical and disrespectful” and that he flashed his business card “to get out of a ticket,” according to local media, including FlaglerLive, which first reported the story, and the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

In that stop Mullins told the trooper it would be a "career-ending move" to arrest him, according to FlaglerLive's reading of a post-stop report.

After appealing to court officials and paying the citations' fines, no points were added to Mullins' driving record, both publications reported.

Mullins, a real estate investor and property manager, won a commission seat in 2018 after running unsuccessfully for the Georgia House of Representatives in 2015 and holds the ceremonial chair position. Mullins is running for reelection and has billed himself "your conservative champion in Flagler County."

In 2020, FlaglerLive reported on a traffic stop in which Mullins was the passenger in an Audi SUV pulled over for allegedly driving almost 20 mph over the speed limit.

In video obtained by FlaglerLive from a deputy's body camera, a voice can be heard saying, "Hey, she was trying to get me — I’m Joe Mullins — she was trying to get me to the dentist."

The publication reported the video recorded Mullins dropping the name of Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly.

When the deputy returns to tell the driver she has been given a warning, Mullins tells the deputy he has a meeting with Staly later in the day, FlaglerLive reported. Staly told the publication no such meeting was scheduled.