A South Florida city commissioner apologized and admitted to using the "N" word, saying he said the slur after he felt "threatened" during a road rage incident Sunday.
The incident was sparked when a car began honking repeatedly at Wilton Manors Commissioner Ted Galatis in a Publix parking lot on Oakland Park Boulevard, according to a police report obtained exclusively by NBC6. The car followed him home, where the driver said Galatis “began calling her and her passengers ’N______,’” the report states. The driver then called the police, saying she was upset about the slur and “did not want him to get away with it.”
Galatis said in a statement provided to NBC6 by his wife that he felt threatened by the driver and the people inside her car. He said he “may have” used the slur “while protecting myself from the immediate threat.”
“I apologize for my use of the ’N’ word. It is something I never say,” the statement reads. “I offer no excuse, other than it was uttered when I was being threatened in front of my own home.”
His wife, Donna Galatis, told NBC6 reporter Jamie Guirola that the other people launched verbal attacks of their own, telling her “white B****, I’ll slice you up.” She declined to respond to additional questions.
Some of the commissioner's neighbors and constituents said they are offended.
"Unfortunately that just doesn’t go," the neighbor said. "I mean, it’s unfortunate you can’t say words like that and take them back. You know you got to pay the price. Donald Sterling just paid the price for what his situation was. "
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No charges have been filed. The mayor said he has no comment on the situation.
