A few weeks back, we highlighted the courteous and professional conduct of officer Matt Lyons. Well, for each yin there’s a yang. For every good there’s a bad. For every Jedi there’s…some guy wearing black on the dark side. Now, via snowflakesinhell.com, comes this surefire first ballot hall-of-famer from Canton, Ohio. Granted, the Lyons and Canton situations occurred under drastically different circumstances. This sorry display happened at night in an evidently questionable part of town. Still, it’s hard to decide what’s most disturbing about the dashcam video . . .
Is it the generally abusive demeanor? The illegal search of the car? The lack of Miranda rights given to the driver? Maybe it’s the promise of future harassment. Oooh. Oooh. I know. It’s probably the regret the officer expresses that he didn’t “execute” the driver by emptying his Glock into him. Canton PD Chief Dean McKimm has relieved the offending cop of his duties pending action by internal affairs. Meanwhile, the driver is no doubt looking for a good civil rights attorney. Here’s wishing him good luck.
It’s like the PD just grabbed a couple school yard bullies and gave them badges and guns. No training at all. EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of that stop was performed improperly. I’d be interested in a step by step breakdown of the video by a properly trained officer. Simply unbelievable. Reminds me of Superbad.
+1 really want to see this deconstructed as a training video of what not to do aka how to turn a traffic stop into the end of a career
Me, too. I’m not in law enforcement or the legal profession so although I can see numerous problems with this incident it would be very helpful to have someone well-versed in the legal details point out and comment on the issues of what happened. A video fisking, as it were.
I sense an impending run on voice recorders at Amazon.
I have a nephew who just graduated from a state police academy a few months back. I’ve done everything I know to instill in him that upholding the US Constitution is his WHOLE duty; not his only duty, but his whole duty in that everything he does on the street MUST meet the constitutional standard; otherwise, he should surrender his badge. Lord, I pray he understands my point, and I think he does. I’m very proud of his character and commitment to the public. He is a moral young man and his compass points due north.
It’s an utter tragedy that the honorable officers in this town and elsewhere will pay a steep, steep price for this individual’s sub-human behavior.
BTW, where are the police chief’s and mayor’s apologies for this? This incident doesn’t just stop with the officers involved. This is demonstrative of a total lack of leadership in this PD. Are the chief and mayor in “CYA hiding” until this blows over, further demonstrating their lack of leadership? Will the chief have the guts to make this a “don’t do” training video for all future academy classes?
The chief can be heard saying, “The buck stops here?? Hell, no, the buck never got here.”
All I can say is wow, Just wow.
all circumstantial aside (location persons in company etc)
This is the biggest fear of so many legal and law abiding concealed carry persons.
I hope no one EVER has to go thru that kind of treatment.
+1
This officer was about one temper tantrum from killing someone. He needs at least a suspended sentence, to keep him out of any job with any authority over anyone, ever again. He also needs to be held accountable in civil court. His partner did him no favors by not taking him aside and calming him down. He also failed to protect the citizen. I doubt I am the only one who thinks that if a dash cam hadn’t been in place that this thing may have gone South, real fast. I know this is not how all officers act, but I had a remarkably similar incident with an officer once, I was so pissed after he threatened to shoot me that I didn’t know whether to sue him or hunt him down. He resigned his position a few days later.
Good point, Cujo, and one that struck me as former patrol supervisor. The other police officer should have called him over to the side and given him a quick reality check. It is what the second officer on the scene does.
Hey man, what is your PC? Did you follow our search procedure? Did you notice anything in plain view? Alright, I can’t see that you have anything and if I would try to smooth this over now. Why don’t you go sit in the patrol and pretend to write something will I start some damage control. Listen folks, I am sorry about this and we want to get you good people on your way. Mike may have over-reacted and I am sorry for the way he was talking. Y’all, have a good night.
Officer Dumbass is ending his career in law enforcement. The second officer is doing the real damage. He is allowing it to happen. What faith the people of Canton may have had in the police to address this issue would have started with him checking his buddy. Had he stepped up and done his duty, this would have been a non-issue. A cop makes a bad stop but his buddy makes an on-the-spot correction and no one’s rights are violated.
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I have a similar story. I was driving back from the shooting range in Dillon, Colorado (high up in the rockies) and was pulled over for speeding. I have a valid Georgia CCW from when I was a Georgia resident, but Colorado does not recognize non resident CCW permits. However, Colorado does allow for carry in the car, concealed or open, loaded or not. I had my handgun holstered between my seat and my center console. When the cop came to my window, he explained that he clocked me going 11 over and showed me the radar. My response was (as my hands were firmly clinched on the steering wheel…they never left it): “officer, I have a loaded handgun just to my right that I wanted to make you aware of.” He immediately drew his handgun and put it right in my face. He told me to get out of my car, but I was buckled in and the buckle was next to my gun so I replied that I wasn’t going to put my hand anywhere near my gun, that he can feel free to open my door and unbuckle it himself. He then told me to grab the gun, keeping it holstered and hand it to him. I gave it to him and he called for back up. More Dillon, CO cops showed up, including the duty officer (?). They all discussed it and finally he (original officer) came back over, ticketed me, cleared my pistol and handed it back to me. Then he started to lecture me about how to carry my handgun, that it must be concealed, that it can not be loaded, etc. I countered, citing C.R.S. statutes and the duty officer (?) agreed, saying what good was an unloaded gun for self defense purposes. He asked me if I had a CCW permit, and I replied that I still had a valid Georgia CCW. His response was I can carry it however I like in my car since I have a CCW. I asked him if he checked my Driver’s License. He looked perplexed and asked me why. I told him that in big letters across the top of it, it says Colorado, thereby making me a legal resident of Colorado, not Georgia. He asked me what that matters and I told him that Colorado doesn’t recognize non-resident CCW permits. He looked perplexed again and said he had no idea that was the case.
The point is, dumb cop cleared leather and put his gun to my face for doing absolutely nothing wrong and moreover, doing more than I am legally required to do in this state by telling him about my pistol. I did it out of politeness and respect. He had an Australian accent and I told the duty officer (?) that maybe he (no offense to immigrants) better hire people that actually know our laws. I was pissed. Nothing like having a gun right to your head.
I have to say, in all of my interactions with police, it’s been that at least 2/3 of the time the cop is a jerk. I’ve yet to come across someone THAT bad, but I have been in situations where I was randomly stopped and searched because they were looking for someone where if another officer hadn’t stepped in, I probably would have been assaulted by Officer Jackass just looking to arrest SOMEONE (like they care who).
I have even seen the better cops watch videos online of non-violent people being assaulted by the police and laugh at the victim screaming in pain. As such I’ve learned to never trust a cop, under any circumstances. Hell, I’d trust a terrorist organization before I’d trust a LEO.
The only way I’d start trusting LEO’s is if they disbanded all unions, officers who broke the law or assaulted a non-violent person lost their ability to perform any type of LEO work AND did jail time, a college education is required (only because it helps weed out the losers who just want to push someone around, not because it’s inherently necessary), and they did routine mental screenings for all officers with the results made publicly available.
Well that was appalling… what I didn’t see any of you mentioning was what the hell was this guy engaged in that prompted the PD to pull over and begin rifling through his PRIVATE PROPERTY?? Not to mention the ludicrous assertation that he was somehow guilty because of who was around him at the time… Ever heard of Freedom of Association?? Is it illegal to strike up a conversation with a person who may have a criminal past? Is it illegal to give them a ride? I don’t understand…
What may have saved the driver from a case of police brutality was his extreme passivity… Maybe it was out of fear. I don’t know.
The primary officer needs to be in another line of work. I feel sorry for his partner. The poor driver should get a settlement and an apology from the police chief and mayor. I’m SSOOOOOoooooo glad I don’t live in Ohio.
This happens in jurisdictions across America, both on the micro and macro scale. I grew up in Georgia and we used to have a saying: Come to Georgia on vacation, leave on probation. Now I live in Colorado and it’s just as bad, if not worse. I never had a gun put to my head in Atlanta, but I sure have in the Rocky Mountains. Ironic. America the Police State.
In every life, there is something to be thankful for. I thank God I don’t live in Canton, OH.
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This man is a disgrace to police officers everywhere. He is both hard-nosed and incompetent. A deadly combination that, in this situation, could have placed himself and his partner at grave risk. He’s not just wound tight; he’s a hotdog.
Not a Dirty Harry; just a dirty dog.
Put his a** in jail.
Charge his a** with felonious aggravated assault–threatening to execute someone(!), nevermind the hypothetical “What I should have done.”
Fire his a** from the CPD.
And while you’re at it, wash his foul mouth out with soap.
End of discussion.
This cop should be FIRED. Gone! “…I’m so close to cavin’ in your god-damned head…” What an incredibly incompetent police officer. He sounds like he’s been injecting too many steroids.
Of course those of us who have worked the street know deep down in our gut why this officer lost it… this is a classic example of a unsafe car stop, the kind that gets officers shot and killed. When the driver was finally pulled from the car and told the officer that he was carrying…. the officer blew it because now he realizes just how close he has come to possibly being shot. He’s not mad at the driver… he’s mad at himself and is taking it out on the driver. He’s so upset at the potential consequences of his lack of officer safety that he goes completely over the top. This officer needs remedial training in officer safety issues, in particular, proper car stop procedures. An anger management class would also be appropriate. I’m not cutting him slack… I’m just saying it is what it is and that’s why he lost it big time. Just my opinion.
“just how close he perceives he has come to possibly being shot”
fixed.
Someone who would shoot him would not have been trying to fulfill his “legal” requirement of announcing he was carrying. This was just a guy attacking someone who he knew wouldn’t fight back.