Cop suspended after driver puts video on YouTube | KOMO-TV – Seattle, Washington | National & World News — The police themselves need to “police” assholes like this idiot cop. Why don’t they? I can assure you that the locals knew that this was going on. It’s a disgrace. Why is it tolerated? And, of course, every case involving this officer now has to be reviewed. Good waste of the tax-payers money.
Oh, and THIS is the exact reason nobody wants Americans using video cams with police around.
ST. GEORGE, Mo. (AP) – A suburban St. Louis police sergeant has been put on unpaid suspension, accused of threatening to invent charges against a driver who caught the exchange on videotape.
The driver, Brett Darrow, 20, recorded Friday’s exchange with Sgt. James Kuehnlein with a dashboard videocamera he installed after past run-ins with police. He posted the video online Saturday.
“I wanted everybody to see that this kind of stuff does happen,” Darrow told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Tuesday’s edition. “I thought if I just go to the chief or whatever, it would just get swept under the rug.”
found by Aric Mackey who adds:
Now, here’s the deal.. this kid seems to either be a troublemaker who like to piss off cops and video it, or trying to make a point about local cops. A simple google search finds this story about a prior ‘interaction.’ And there is this too.
So why didn’t AP or any other reports mention this prior incident? Lazy or am I nit-picking?
Only bloggers get the whole story.
#60 – GregA – the US does indeed have the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 1 in 30 people in jail.
Right and wrong… The US got most prisoners, but the US population isn’t 62 million, right?! 😉 So, the real ratio is more about 1 in 143… which means that that 142 people are NOT in prison.
>>The US does indeed have the highest incarceration rate
>>in the world, with 1 in 30 people in jail.
And of those, 1 in 4 is imprisoned for a non-violent drug offense, like firing up that Tech 5 bong.
You just gotta wonder.
#61,
My bad;) 1 in 30 African Americans is in prison. Sorry. My point still stands even though I worded it poorly.
Another good one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXnK5UyRI
While I may disagree with the 2nd Amendment, defending one’s rights is something that should always be applauded.
64–Natefrog. Amazing Video. I’m surprised even with two white guys at high noon with witnesses that these guys got away with it. Downright scary to confront in a meaningful way these authority figures.
And actually, the “friend” who waved his hand in front of the backup officer committed the crime of “assault.” VERY surprised the cop didn’t protect himself and the other officer. Maybe too many doughnuts??
Extremely difficult for an average undertrained person to treat citizens differently from criminals? ((Yea, I know, don’t say it.) Pathetic dodge going for “blocking the public access.”
Can this democracy survive much longer??
First you’ll be a troublemaker for not telling where you’re going.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to a pat-down search.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to strip search.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to have your phone calls monitored.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to wear the GPS tracker.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to have government video cameras installed in your house.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to wear the government voice recording collar.
Then you’ll be a troublemaker for not agreeing to have the government double plus good happy time lobotomy.
66–A slippery slope argument I don’t have to consider because it starts off so far down the slope. Good post nontheless!
MM wrote, “And anyone who has ever been on the business end of law enforcement knows that you don’t mouth off to a cop with no witnesses present, unless they’ve really got something to cover up. You say “sorry officer, I’ll be leaving right away”.
This is from the first amendment :” Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech”. Maybe I missed something. I find it amusing that those in law enforcement have turned their back on the most sacred law of our nation.
Why is it okay to call the president dumb and not a cop? Doesn’t the same Consitution protect my right of freedom of speech? Cops are public servants, and they need to start acting like it.
It is my constitutional right to mouth off to a cop. You have just stated unequiviocally that it is customary for cops to be above the constitution. Freedom of speech is gone as is innocent until proven gulty.
If we want our freedom back, then the answer is to have all arrests be videotaped, to have GPS on all cop cars, and that they be monitored at all times. If an arrest isn’t videotaped, it’s tossed. Period.
There is ample evidence police are abusing their authority. They are supposed to be here to ensure our freedom not steal it from us. I can’t believe people are excusing the police’s unamerican and unconstitutional behavior by attacking the kid in the video.
I have to admit I didn’t get it when the blacks cheered OJ being acquitted and then I got arrested. When I was locked up and assaulted because a police officer didn’t like my question and tone of voice, I understood where they were coming from. I realized that the police are a bigger threat to my freedom and life than a guy like OJ is.
After reading these comments….I will NOT be turning my back on Mister Mustard anytime soon. Methinks he has a serious hang up with night sticks and asses. 🙂
#65, bobbo:
I especially enjoy towards the end of the vid where the supervisor is trying to make them take down the signs on the stoplight…
Supervisor: “Are these your signs here, too?”
Open Carry man: “I have nothing to tell you about those signs…”
Supervisor: “You can’t post signs on this, it’s a city ordinance violation.”
Bystander: [Crosstalk] “Uh, officer, those are actually, uh, the people down the street at the bank. They’re doing a car wash.”
Bystander: “You’re busting girl scouts!” [laughter]
Supervisor (to another officer): “Go down the street and tell the girl scouts *mumble mumble*.”
Bystander: “Well, we’re not with them.”
Possibly open carry man: “I think you should leave the girl scouts alone!”
Supervisor: “Ah, no, no. I’m just going to tell them they can’t do that…”
Possibly open carry man: “I don’t…I don’t think you should hurt the girl scouts!”
You can’t make this shit up!
This is one of many examples we’ve seen of the “How Dare You Question My Authority” attitude of police officers.
Police Officers in reality have far less authority than they claim to have, and use all sorts of trickery to get you to hand over your rights by asking courteous-sounding questions. In fact they are trained to do this.
“May I search your car”
“What are you doing here”
“give me your keys”
“If you explain yourself, I will cut you a break” (yeah right)
etc….
68–jz–Yes, still lots of racism and jingoism and bigotry in the GOUSA. Maybe more because we are so multi-culturally mixed, maybe less because of our stated values?
I recall after 9-11 some medical doctor or medical student got arrested in Texas for having a name similar to someone on a terrorist list (I think his first name was Muhamed?). After 3-4 months of interrogation by cops and FBI, it was determined he was completely innocent of everything except having the confusing first name of Muhamed. So–after letting him go, one cop gave him a punch to the kidneys for wasting their time.
Makes me pround to be an – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – wait for it- – – – – – – – –
member of the human race.
Besides being a nut case who should be fired and prosecuted, I would think if you were another cop you should be worried about ever being in a genuinely tight spot with this guy.
If he reacts this insanely to what is at best, extremely minor provocation, he is going to come apart if he gets real heat thrown his way. If he can’t control himself any better than he does here he is just as dangerous to his fellow officers in a life-or-death emergency – just a matter of when. You would not be able to depend on him. I sure wouldn’t want to.
73 – Mike Strong
“You would not be able to depend on him.”
You are exactly correct. There was a time, guys like this wouldn’t have lasted very long because the other cops would have ostracized them and forced them out of the job.
Once their partners had dropped them off at the station a few times and everyone refused to ride with them and they ended up walking a beat in the middle of the night in a totally deserted part of the city forever and everyone kept ‘forgetting’ to pick them up for lunch or at the end of the shift, they would have gotten the message and quit.
Things changed. I don’t know what and I don’t know why but things changed.
Maybe situations like this demonstrate why older people don’t like change very much.
>>If he reacts this insanely to what is at best, extremely
>>minor provocation
The fact that the provocation was minor is probably exactly the reason he responded in such a bold and brassy way.
Bullies like that are invariably cowards also. Probably if there was an AK-47 toting drug dealer in the car, he would have shit and pissed himself, and fallen on the ground and acted like “some Hollywood finnochio that cries like a woman?” (to quote Don Corleone).
I wouldn’t want a flake like that to have my back in a game of tennis doubles, much less in a life-threatening situation.
That’s a good story, Bobbo. And it dove tails with what psychologists have found when the police, judges, and prosecutors locked up innocent people. Far from expressing regret, the majority blame the victim and thought he probably did something else wrong just as this cop did.
The fact is that this code of silence does exist and needs to be exposed for how illegal it is. Just as the police officers who were present but didn’t beat Rodney King were suspended, the officers who didn’t report and testify agains the officer who punched this innocent Arab needs to be punished as well.
The friend of mine who is a cop drives 90 to 100 MPH everywhere and when stopped, he NEVER gets a ticket. Whenever I see someone on the highway driving that fast, I used to think crazy teen. Now I think off duty cop.
As an American though, the important thing to remember is your rights. Most people think if you broke the law, you are guilty. That is not the case. The police have to prove that you broke the law, and most cops have not even seen the inside of a courtroom.