Recently fired former PHL17 on-air talent, Colleen Campbell, says the woman seen screaming at a Philadelphia Police officer during a weekend tirade – video which went viral over the past few days – “is not the real me.”
In a statement she shared through attorney Wayne Pollock, of Philadelphia-based Copo Strategies, Campbell said she was “ashamed and embarrassed” by her actions caught on video.
It showed the 28-year-old berating a police officer after she had allegedly been thrown out of a performance by Craig Robinson at Helium Comedy Club on Sansom Street in Center City last Sunday for talking too much.
“I am ashamed and embarrassed by my actions. They were profane, inappropriate, and offensive. They do not reflect the person I am or how I was raised. The person in that video is not the real me,” she wrote in a prepared statement. “I would like to apologize to the Philadelphia police officer who bore the brunt of my outburst, the entire Philadelphia Police Department for their patience, my former employers and coworkers whom I have let down, and my fellow patrons at Helium Comedy Club whose night out I might have disrupted.”
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In the statement, Campbell repeats claims that she believes she “may have been unknowingly drugged at some point in the night” before she unleashed a verbal barrage of insults on a uniformed police officer, including calling the officer – who remained calm throughout, as can be seen on the video – a “c***sucker” several times and saying that police officers are “all idiots in the f***ing town.”
“My recollection of my time at Helium and the incident are hazy. Based on my on-air reporting career and my bartending jobs, I know my limits when it comes to drinking and I know to stay out of the limelight,” she continued in the apology statement released on Tuesday. “My actions on that video are not the result of a handful of drinks spaced out over a couple of hours. I believe I may have been unknowingly drugged at some point that night. I did not receive medical testing while in custody because, as I recall, I was advised by personnel at the police station that such testing would delay the process of my being released.”
She concluded her statement saying she hopes the officer she berated would allow her to apologize in person for “how truly sorry I am for what transpired.”
Also, her family released a statement as well, through the same attorney, noting that Campbell is “recovering” from her filmed verbal barrage of a police officer and subsequent arrest on charges of resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct in a “secure undisclosed location.
The statement claims that since the release of the video, Campbell has been the victim of online threats and lewd phone calls.
“Ms. Campbell and her family are still sorting out the events of that night. Their highest priority is the health and well-being of Ms. Campbell,” read a statement released by her family.
Watch the video below.
