In a profanity-laced rant you can hear Assistant District Attorney Jody Warner berating Uber driver Shaun Platt.
"Oh My God. You are an idiot. You are a legitimate retard. What a joke," she can be heard saying.
Platt told Dallas police that Warner appeared intoxicated when he picked her up at a Dallas bar Saturday night. He claims she hit him, insulted him, and accused him of kidnapping her because he would not take her to her final destination.
You hear some of that on the tape.
"Under the law you are recklessly keeping me from where I was going so you are kidnapping me," she says.
“It’s not kidnapping. Ma’am you are free to leave," Platt responds.
On the tape you can hear Platt repeatedly asking Warner to please get out of his car. Platt says Warner kept trying to change the destination where he was supposed to be taking her.
"Ma'am I ended the ride and I asked you politely to exit the vehicle."
“We get to a stretch in the road where the navigation says continue for several blocks. She says 'no, make a right here.' I said 'I’m required by Uber to follow the GPS.' She said 'no, make a right here' and she became kinda belligerent. She became more and more irate,” Platt told Good Morning America.
Warner continues to berate and call him names on the recording.
“She kept calling me stupid. She said this was the only job I can get because I’m so stupid. And that I was a retard. She hit me on my shoulder. That was the final straw. I’m used to dealing with drunk passengers on different levels of intoxication. I pulled over immediately. I said, 'ma’am you need to exit my vehicle.' She said 'you’re supposed to take me home.' I said 'I understand that but you just crossed the line,'” Platt said.
Dallas District Attorney Faith Johnson fired Warner after what she called a thorough investigation.
"Although criminal charges have not been filed, her behavior is contrary to this office's core principal of integrity and it will not be tolerated," Johnson said.
Warner issued the following statement to Good Morning America:
"I cringe whenever I hear or think about the things that I said that night. It was unacceptable, and no one deserves to be called names. That being said, the audio doesn't tell you that I was in a situation that made me feel very uncomfortable and I became defensive and eventually angry. I NEVER assaulted my driver or touched him in any way. All I wanted to do was get home safely that night.”
In a press conference in Dallas on Tuesday, a teary-eyed Warner spoke to reporters and apologized for her language.
"I'm not trying to make any accusations against that driver, I don't know what's in his heart," she said. "I can tell you that not everything he said was true, I never touched him. Whether it's because of my experience as a prosecutor, maybe [I'm] hyper-vigilant, but whether I was justifiably uncomfortable, I can't tell you that... all I can tell you is what's in my heart."
She says she felt uncomfortable with the route the driver was taking and went into "fight or flight" mode, saying her years of prosecuting sexual assault cases may have put her on edge or more sensitive than most.