It’s clowns like this who give police as a whole a bad name. I’m blessed to have several police officers as friends, and I’d trust any of them with my life in a skinny minute. This guy, on the other hand, I’d regard as a direct, immediate and otherwise unavoidable threat to my safety, and respond accordingly.
Peter
I first wrote about this incident in 2007.
http://street-pharmacy.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-problems-for.html
The worst part of this is how police on a cop forum responded. Here is a quote:
I hope this little POS punk bastard tries his little video stunt with me when I pull him over alone- and I WILL pull him over – because I will see "his gun" and place a hunk of hot lead right where it belongs.
and as a follow up, the officer involved in that video was ultimately fired from the St George police department, where he worked at the time of the video.
He was then hired by Velda City, MO as a police officer.
He was fired from that job after being convicted of one count each of misdemeanor and felony domestic assault in one case in June of 2013, after being acquitted of felony kidnapping charge and another misdemeanor domestic assault charge.
A woman he had been dating accused him of snapping during an incident in 2011 at her home, choking her, pulling her hair and head-butting her. She had also accused him of locking her door and not letting her leave during the assault.
The guy is truly a criminal with a badge and has some serious anger management issues.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/former-velda-city-police-officer-gets-probation-for-domestic-assault/article_8216ed9c-f422-5fd9-8f97-ac3096ee33fb.html
Not excusing the officer in any way, as he clearly should not be in this line of work, but this kid is no better. The whole story is that he'd rig his car up with cameras and then try to bait officers. This idiot took the bait and he's been dealt with but that in no way makes the smarmy punk kid any sort of hero as he's done this with numerous other officers who haven't aped out but he doesn't post those videos.
Murphy,
How is that any different than police pretending to be criminals to sting real criminals? The evidence is not tainted. The non-criminal cops are not harmed because they actr appropriately. The bad cop is fired.
It is a win for everyone. The police departments themselves are obviously not performing the oversight needed. They don't have their own stings. They don't review the police dash cam videos and they don't punich when the video is unaccountably missing.
The principle being used here is: checks and balances.
I respect LEOs and know that every contact they make has the potential to go badly, but they should be prepared for that.
Making a stop at 2 am does raise the probability, but his behavior is not acceptable.
Bad apples need to go.
I can't listen to the audio of this right now and of course have no first hand knowledge of this particular incident.
I think a lot of folks have real issues with police stings, where police act criminally.
Provocation wouldn't excuse the officers behavior, but in terms of giving the victim here credit for chasing down bad cops… I think we should generally be careful about who we elect "poster boy" on the pro freedom side. If he caught a good cop, then good on him. But if he provoked the situation it's bad on both parties IMO. Boyd
With his felony conviction for domestic violence, he's now just another convicted thug who can't ever touch a gun.
generic views, it's quite a bit different. Police stings of criminals are done by lawful authority in accordance with guidelines and judicial oversight. But this kid just bopping around on his own and acting suspicious until he can draw cops in and then smarting off and trying to antagonize them to get a reaction–that's crap. Police are out there doing a job and it's not acceptable for random people to just set up all over the place and try to create conflicts with them just for personal fame and glory. And of course I'm sure that you noticed how he edits all of his own comments and remarks out. That cop's remarks were wrongful but it's a given that they did not occur in a vacuum.
If the officer feels that its appropriate to threaten a subject for being mouthy or smart then he's not qualified for the job. If he's going to make up charges to get back at someone, i.e. LIE, something hat would get you or I thrown in jail for doing, aka filing false report, he's not fit to work as a security guard let alone as a law enforcement officer. PERIOD.
Vacuum or not, the police MUST abide by the laws the purport to enforce.