Richard Rowe
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Back in 2017, a Washington detective was placed on administrative leave following a controversial traffic stop that was captured on a motorcyclist’s GoPro. The biker, Alex Randall, was pulled over for speeding. The detective, Richard Rowe, is shown in the video pointing a Glock at him while wearing plain clothes and failing to identify himself.

Following the event, Randall filed suit against both Rowe and the county, arguing that the officer did not properly identify himself as law enforcement, made an illegal search and used excessive force. The filing argues that Rowe was not justified in drawing his firearm during the stop. The suit further argues that the police department was at fault for failing to administer adequate training.

Here is a partial transcription of the video:

ROWE: [Gun already drawn] How you doing?

RANDALL: Oh shit! What are you doing to me?

ROWE: What do you mean what am I doing? You’re fucking driving reckless. Give me your driver’s license or I’m going to knock you off this bike.

RANDALL: Why do you have a gun on me? I’m unarmed. I will pull over. I am unarmed. I’m going to–

ROWE: Take your ID out right now, if you move from this bike, I’m gonna dump you.

RANDALL: I’m gonna put my bike down, I’m gonna put it down and I’m gonna turn it off, okay? Is that alright? Can I take my helmet off? I can’t hear you very well, sir.

ROWE: Get your ID out please. I’ll take it for you. [Takes Randall’s wallet]. 

RANDALL:  That’s my wallet. I’m not armed.

ROWE: Yup. That’s your ID, right? That’s what I’m a little worried about.

RANDALL: I’m sorry, you have a gun drawn on me, sir. I’m a little panicked.

ROWE: That’s right, because I’m the police. I’m with the King County Sheriff’s office.

“This was a terrifying incident for me,” Randall stated in a press release, “and I hope that this settlement will prevent this from happening to anyone else. I’m glad that something good has come from what happened to me, and I look forward to continuing to volunteer my efforts to improve community relations with our police.”

We’ll let you come to your own conclusions about whether the outcome of the law suit was appropriate.

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133 COMMENTS

      • They need to lock that little piggy up for the better part of the next decade. Give him the same sentence that one of us would have received if we pulled a loaded gun on a driver that cut us off. It’s a damn shame a fellow citizen didn’t stroll by during this “stop” and perforate this useless dickhead. /rant

        • Indeed, it would seem the “appropriate” outcome here would be the deputy doing time for aggravated assault: Since when is it legal to draw on someone to question them about a moving violation? Not only is it illegal, it’s really, really stupid. How many here, having seen this guy approaching in their mirror with his gun out would have been waiting to shoot this guy at the earliest opportunity with the legitimate motive of saving their own life? If the biker was your friend and you were behind him in traffic, how many here would have shot this deputy first, and attempted to discern his motives later? I’m thinking I really might have shot this guy, given the opportunity, because this looks like either a common robbery or a car (bike?) jacking in progress…
          I’d say the outcome here is a massive disservice to the taxpayer, the citizens of this idiots jurisdiction, and to the deputy, since leaving him to think anything about this was ok is apt to get him (righteously) killed at some point.

      • New Continental Army says:
        “Someone pulls a gun on me like that they’re getting shot. That looked like a straight car jacking.”
        Not a wise idea.
        I know some people have it in their minds that they would to this or they would do that as part of some wishful thinking.
        But If a person has a gun already drawn on you, the best thing is to just comply.
        I am not supporting the cop at all. What he did was totally illegal and if you did manage to shoot him first, I think you would be in the right.
        Lucky for the biker that he had video.
        In this case, video was mightier than the sword/gun.

      • Dumb idea. The gun is already drawn, finger on the trigger, pointed straight at you, and you would somehow shoot them without being harmed? Do you even think before you speak?

    • “Some police think a badge gives them the right to do whatever the hell they want”…A person in civilian clothes, without a badge AND identification IS NOT the police. A person in civilian clothes pointing a gun at you within bad breath distance, without a badge AND identification IS a justifiable lethal threat. Should have been a defensive gun use.

    • The money has to come from somewhere, and nobody’s pockets are bottomless. Working off limited information here but my guess is that $65,000 is a good deal for this ‘cyclist and the only tragedy is it wasn’t a much bigger PD.

      • King County Sheriff IS one of the biggest departments in the country… the county is pushing 2 million residents, plus everyone from the neighboring counties commuting in to work at Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, the ports, etc.

      • It should come out of his pension and that should be all he gets after they fire him. A 3 month stay behind bars might have changed his outlook.

    • $6.5 million from whom? The citizens of King County? They’re already paying a detective to sit at home while they investigate. And they have at least one douchebag cop to deal with. You want to punish them more?

      • ‘$6.5 million from whom? The citizens of King County?’

        Aren’t they the ones who elected the sheriff that runs that department? And is $65,000 enough to get their attention? In a county with over 2 million people?

        • In a county near me, over $1 million was paid to the family of a guy who was killed when a cop chasing a suspect blew a stop sign and t-boned him. As a voter, I resent being asked to pay for the criminal misdeeds of elected officials, even the ones I voted for.

          I agree that $65K won’t get anyone’s attention, or prevent any Sheriff from getting re-elected. The viral video will have more impact.

        • The county tax payers paid a much lower price than the guy who got t-boned. Anyway, I’d wager that $1 million wasn’t even the department’s liability policy limit.

          While it might not cover the entire cost, when it comes to blatant misconduct (like in this case) the detective not only needs to be fired but his pension needs to take a big hit. Thought you were going to get $5000/mo? Sorry, it’s $2500 now.

        • Counties do have insurance for this sort of thing, with pretty high limits and also pretty high deductibles. $65K is probably less than the deductible in a county that size. Oh, and that insurance comes with really big premiums, too. Even in a medium-size county the annual premium can be seven figures for general liability. Guess who pays that?

          I agree Detective Friendly here should pony up, big time. I don’t know of any insurance that will protect you from the consequences of your own criminal activity. But to crack that nut you need a criminal conviction, not just a civil suit that’s settled out of court.

        • “Counties do have insurance for this sort of thing”
          Let me give a little hint, the insurance companies do NOT lose money. The only thing this does is spread the pain over multiple jurisdictions. And don’t forget to add a minimum of 10% to whatever the insurance company pays out to all the tax payers that are “clients” of the insurance company.

        • True, taxpayers pay the premiums, but the same can be said of every other purchase of goods or services you make.

          I would consider $65,000 a reasonable settlement IF the detective gets run up on assault with a deadly weapon charges. Probably kidnapping too since the motorcyclist was illegally detained at gunpoint. They’d charge you or me for the doing the same.

      • Should have been the sheriff’s annual salary plus Rowe’s annual salary, along with Rowe being fired without pension and the whole episode reported to the voting public right before the next election.

        • And the plain-clothes detective should have had to pay for that settlement out of his own person savings, not from any insurance policy.

    • “Rowe has received three road rage or driving complaints against him in the last five years and was placed on administrative leave after Randall posted the video to the Internet, according to reporting by former Stranger writer Sydney Brownstone. In April of this year, Johanknecht suspended Rowe for five days without pay for a lack of courtesy in his conduct.”

      “ This was not the first time Rowe had drawn his gun without telling his superiors, according to Carney.
      “During the internal investigation, investigators quoted Detective Rowe saying that he had pointed his gun at citizens ‘multiple times’ without ever reporting it for review by a supervisor,” Carney said in the press release.“
      https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/12/10/36960527/motorcyclist-wins-65000-settlement-after-king-county-deputy-pulls-gun-on-him

      • When I saw the “3 road rage” part I checked.

        Clearly the deputy has anger issues and his behavior with the motorcyclist is part of a pattern of behavior. The diffence is that this time his behavior was recorded.

        “The first complaint against Rowe dates from 2012, when an anonymous citizen called the sheriff’s office to report Rowe’s patrol car tailgating another vehicle on I-405. According to the complaint, the caller said “he observed this driving for approx 1 mile” during which time Rowe’s car “was consistently within one vehicle length of the vehicle in front at speeds at/around 60 mph.”

        The 2012 incident was referred to Rowe’s supervisor, who issued Rowe a reminder that it’s sheriff’s office policy for deputies to drive safely.

        A year later, Sarah Dotson, a mother with her 13-year-old daughter in the car, told the King County Sheriff’s Office that Rowe tailgated her early in the morning for nearly two miles before pulling her over and yelling at her for her “driving skills.” Dotson wrote that she assumed Rowe pulled her over because she may have backed out of her driveway as he was rounding her corner and she didn’t see his headlights. In her statement, she said she felt Rowe acted “out of personal anger.”

        Sergeant Marcus Williams, the official responding to the complaint, told the woman that Deputy Rowe offered a “vastly” different story. “Deputy Rowe felt his contact with you was positive and that you appeared to be satisfied with his explanation for contact,” Williams wrote.

        Dotson disagreed. Nevertheless, Sergeant Williams logged the incident as a “non-investigatory matter.”

        “I truly thought I was being followed by someone with road rage!” Dotson told Sergeant Williams by e-mail. “I have been pulled over 1 time in my 22 years of driving, so this was pretty upsetting for me! I wouldn’t have said anything had I not felt the Deputy wasn’t in the wrong at all that day.”

        In 2014, another complainant told the King County Sheriff’s Office that Rowe sped and drove erratically on I-405 before pulling him over and verbally abusing him in front of his family. Enayet Aziz said that after he passed Rowe’s patrol vehicle on the highway, Rowe’s car inched up to the back of his car and backed away a couple of times before stopping Aziz.

        “Mr. Aziz related that Deputy Rich Rowe made contact with him at the driver’s side window and seemed to be angry at him, stating that [sic] about driving too fast,” the investigating sergeant’s memo notes. While Aziz told the sergeant that Rowe hadn’t used any profanity toward him and didn’t intimidate him, the memo notes Aziz felt Rowe was disrespectful and “trying to humiliate him in front of his wife and adult daughter.”

        As in motorcyclist Randall’s case, Rowe did not issue Aziz a traffic citation. But his complaint, unlike Dotson’s, was referred to a supervisor for action”

        • Just what the county I live in needs – another angry cop. This guy has serious issues. Who in their right mind aims a gun at someone because they didn’t like how they are driving?

          Maybe he will get a real punishment when he perforates someone with his Glock brand Glock. Surprised the biker didn’t sh*t himself when the detective “appeared”.

      • Some of us are more equal than others. What would be felony assault with deadly weapon for us lowly civilians is just five days without pay for a lack of courtesy if you work for the government and (sometimes) wear the right costume.

  1. Maybe if it was 65k out of the officers own pocket…but if it is just paid by the city/county/state they won’t really care. Just jack up taxes a little more next year.

      • Bingo.

        Until Americans decide to do a little “Yellow Vest” protesting of their own against the out of control thin blue line, then the tyranny of the police state will continue unabated.

        Not only does it put citizens at more risk, but also hits them hard in the wallet.

        Look up the Nebraska county that is now considering a new sales tax to pay for a multi-million dollar settlement for wrongful imprisonment of six individuals…government doesn’t care that they screwed up but all the residents of the county now get to pay.

        Land of the Fee and home of the Slave.

  2. More training huh?!? That ain’t no nervous novice 24 year old po-leece punk. That boy should get bounced and get a term in prison…the SS would be proud.

  3. This could have ended tragically, for both men.

    If some random stranger walks up on me with a gun aimed at my chest, my first thought isn’t going to be “oh drat, I’ve been stopped for speeding, by a plain clothes law enforcement officer.” My first thought (after a string of rapid expletives) would be that I was being jacked/robbed, or about to die. I doubt I’m alone in that thought.

    I don’t think it’s a stretch to see where someone taken by surprise like that might have reacted instinctively in those circumstances. I have no doubt that had the rider made sudden movements, like say jumping out of his seat to get away, he would have been shot. I also have little doubt that the natural reaction for many others would have been to act in defense of their own life, and drawn their own firearm. This detective could have ended up being shot this day, too.

    • I would 100% have slowly pulled my wallet out of my pocket and dropped it out of nervousness in hopes he’d reach for it and give me time to draw and shoot. Not a great tactic and probably would’ve ended bad for both but I’m taking my chances.

      • I’ve shown this video to half a dozen CCWs…all of whom indicated that, given the chance (Re: the attacker became distracted, dropped his gun, etc) they would have shot this guy.
        I think the reason is clear enough…he created a lethal force incident out of what shouldn’t have even been a traffic stop.
        When my wife watched this for the first time, I asked her to imagine me on the motorcycle, and her behind me in her car, and asked her to indicate if, and when she would have shot this guy…she pointed out that she would have shot him while he was still walking through traffic towards me with a gun out and his attention on me…basically before the biker here ever saw this deputy.
        I was thinking the same thing from a chase car perspective…without seeing the flashing lights on the car the deputy left behind and to the side of the biker..basically out of sight, and my friend on the motorcycle about to be taken unaware by what sure looks like an armed robbery attempt, I too would have engaged the deputy before he made it to the bike.
        Not only is this idiot apt to wind up dead, it will ruin some poor citizens life when they have to kill him. Perhaps worse though is the fact that until someone ends him, he is free to terrorize the public.
        They ought to have terminated and prosecuted this guy over this incident. Since that didn’t happen, we are unfortunately left with waiting and hoping for someone to kill him to end his assaults on citizens and their rights. It can’t happen soon enough.

    • I absolutely agree with you! It was to low! Should have received a minimum of 250k $, Officer. F@!KNUTs should be in state lockup with 2 cellmates named Q-Tip and T-Bone…ALL legal fees should have been covered by the Sheriff’s Department budget.The current Sheriff should resign and the town fathers should be giving a key 🔑 to the township to the victim…Maybe the motorcyclist can become a victims advocate!

  4. The “detective” will get “paid time off”, a “paid vacation” and will be told not to repeat the same behavior.
    You can bet that the detective’s behavior will NOT change, as “the thin blue line (gang)” protects its own.
    The only way to keep this type of behavior from happening is to abolish police unions, and revoke their official “immunity”. In addition, any award to a taxpayer for misconduct should come out of the police pension fund–not from the taxpaying citizens. These three changes would be beneficial and would help make needed changes in police behavior.
    The detective should have been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, the same as an ordinary “civilian” would be treated.

  5. Apparently Mr. Detective lacks basic skills of observation, didn’t notice the helmet cam. Not very good detectiving right there.

  6. Want to stop this kind of shite immediately? Simply make the individual officer personally liable. If the settlement was coming out of his pocket, him and his fellow officers would behave much differently. Believe it.

    • There is a legal mechanism for doing just that (may not apply to this specific event). All police are agents of government (you can stop here if you’ve heard this before). As agents, there are limits on the power/authority they are delegated. The short of it is an “agent” must act within the power/authority given. Acting outside such power/authority makes the agent personally responsible of actions taken outside the delegated power/authority. If an agent acts outside prescribed (legal) power/authority, the agent and the delegating principle can both be held liable, individually. That is, a rogue agent can be sued personally, and if the agent is acting illegally, there is no “limited immunity”. This is known as “law of agency”.

      In this specific example, if the cop had forced the motorcyclist to the curb, and immediately shot the cyclist, there is little chance the cop would be operating within agency. No police department is going to claim that such actions are within the delegated authority of the cop. No police agency is going to have published procedures that direct cops to force drivers to the curb, and immediately shoot the driver. Thus, the cop would be acting outside agency (the power and authority delegated by the municipality employing the police department, and the power and authority delegated to the cop).

      Here is a practical example: power of attorney. If you appoint someone to hold power of attorney, and that someone commits a crime executing that power, you and your delegatee can be held fully responsible. So, you sign a POA to have your best friend buy a car for you. You provide the funding. The person named as having POA (the “agent”) brutally beats a car salesperson because the agent feels insulted. In this case, your “agent” acted outside the power/authority you delegated for the purchase of an automobile; committed a crime. Your “agent” can be sued by the sales person, and you may also be liable for damages. If your “agent” had bought the car properly, and the dealer decided it was a bad deal, your “agent” (and you) cannot be sued under the theory that the “agent” acted outside the authority delegated.

      • I have seen po-po jump in front of a motorcycle and then go into a power skid, trying to unseat the motorcyclist. Some times they will side swipe them, possibly injuring them for life. I rode for decades, but it is dangerous and your reactions must be fast – in city and freeway traffic a motorcyclist doesn’t have a chance.

        • My middle son dated a girl in high school whose father was a big two-wheeler. At church one day, I asked the father about the risks of motorcycles among automobiles. The dad responded that if car drivers would do right, the risk would be almost nothing. Thinking the guy was rationalizing a dangerous hobby, I mentioned to my middle son that he should not think of his girlfriend’s father as a role model, and to stay off motorcycles.

          Two months later, I saw the father in church again (he had not been there for quite awhile). He was on crutches, minus his left leg. He said someone ran a red light, and tore the leg off. I was a real jerk about it and noted that I hoped all the fun he had before on the bike was worth the loss of the leg (middle son and girlfriend had already split).

          It is one thing to risk being clobbered at an intersection with 4,000lbs of Detroit surrounding you. Quite another to be “bare nekked” on a bike in traffic

  7. I know the old saw “one bad apple etc. also “put on the badge etc.” I have met many LEO who aren’t paid nearly enough, but I have found through experience that every department, town/city police, sheriff or state, federal, BLM,USFS, etc. has at least one if not more trouble makers/power tripping or just plain mean. Bust the unions so these buttheads can be fired. And don’t get me started on states game n fish.

    • It’s the nature of the profession. Any job where people are granted authority and power over others is going to draw in sociopaths, bullies, and wild-eyed lunkheads. It’s sad, there are plenty of good police, but there are also plenty of badge heavy idiots.

      • Not too mention, the fact that the administration pro-actively discriminates against the best and brightest. Or even marginally competent.

      • “It’s the nature of the profession.”

        Actually, the “cop haters” here understand that. What reinforces the negative attitudes is the complete lack of public condemnation by fellow cops, and cop unions. Even a squishy, “If the circumstances reported are true, then we fellow police completely condemn…” would go a long way to changing public perspective.

    • And when they get let go or run out of a department, make them go through the academy all over again and start at bottom wages, if they are even being looked at as potential hires.

      Many bad apples jump around police departments and leave before they are fired.

  8. Deputy badass is lucky.
    Stranger brandishing = self defense.
    $65k is off by a few hundred k.
    The first payment should come from Barney’s pension and liquidation of assets.
    Then we should get into appropriate criminal charges against him.

    • Yes he should. When an LEO behaves like that, they are no longer law enforcement, they are a thug. Pointing a gun at a guy on a motorcycle for reckless driving? He should be arrested. Anyone else would be.

    • So we are working with the assumption that this butt wipe still has a job???? Seriously??? If he has union protection and for some strange reason I can’t understand, at least demote him to crossing guard duty, and definitely unarmed.

  9. From a bystander’s perspective, it looked like an attempted jacking in the middle of the street in broad daylight by a guy with phony police strobe lights he self-installed in his dash. Seems like there’s never a good guy with a gun around when you need one.

  10. Hahaha! One idiot detective and everyone is crying Gestapo! Hilarious how stupidity gets turned into more stupidity. Keep it realistic. “Abuse of power” in this case isn’t murder. Justice was served.

    • How many of his fellow members of the blue line have covered for his anger and abuse over the years. We’re supposed to believe they’re not to blame for covering it up as well?

      I will agree that there aren’t that many bad officers. However, the number of police that are willing to put up with those bad officers is WAY too high. When law abiding citizens start losing their trust in the police they’ll only have themselves to blame. They’ve proven they are incapable of “policing their own” and they’re too comfortable having extra power over folks.

    • It’s not just one Detective. We see this abuse of power across nation everyday. The biggest problem is cops continually cover for these sorry asses.

      You left out the part about we don’t have the full context. You’re either a cop or you haven’t crossed paths with these Jackbooted THUGS.

    • Justice was served, huh? 5 days off, a note in his jacket, and (maybe) a slap on the wrist. Got it.

      I assume if some rando nutjob copper pulls that shyte on, say, your teenage daughter, this is also a suitable punishment, yes?

    • “Hahaha! One idiot detective and everyone is crying Gestapo! Hilarious how stupidity gets turned into more stupidity. ”

      Yeah. I did take note of the overwhelming condemnation of the detective by all the LEO who attend this blog. Gotta admire that willingness to shun fellow cops who act illegally.*

      * I don’t hate cops, I just don’t trust them. Just like I don’t trust government agencies to have my best interests at heart.

    • This is *one* example, dumbass. Look at the Salt Lake nurse if you want another, or scroll under a google search of all the fubar SWAT raids (the Daniel Shaver case comes to mind).

      For far too long, the thin blue line has protected the psychopathic and power hungry to f–k with poor and/or working class people on a whim. Rules for the rich, the f–ked rules for everybody else.

      Police aren’t your friend. They are the agents of the power structure and *will* enforce *any* law in the books, no matter how heinous, unconstitutional, racist, or classist those laws may be.

  11. Pull over for an unmarked car? Those lights can be put on by anyone. Check your state’s laws but I know I’d call 911 if an unmarked car tried to pull me over. I’d also drive to public well lit place if the area didn’t feel safe. To many fake cars out there to take such chances.

    Of course the best solution is don’t speed or drive like a dick.

    • He didn’t pull over. He stopped in traffic.

      We also don’t have evidence that he was speeding or “driving like a dick”. If he really was doing 100+ I suspect the LEO would have gotten away with this. The fact that the cop didn’t get away with it suggests that his accusation was exaggerated (as claimed by the motorcyclist).

      Some people just hate motorcycles and the people that ride them. Most are content to just say something under their breath but some people take it too far. There’s a ton of videos on the internet of people intentionally using their car as a weapon against a motorcyclist. Sometimes it’s an overreaction to something the biker did and other times it’s for no reason at all other than that the car driver really hates motorcycles.

      It’s possible this LEO just has an irrational hatred of motorcycles and motorcyclists.

      • As motorcycle rider, yup. Can confirm. Also true that in the county I live in, going 100mph+ is actually felony endangerment, and if you don’t stop, they can and will shoot you right off the bike.

        • if i’m on days i’ll hit the ton in the express lanes before sunrise. a thick lexan daniel hougon fairing deflects trooper objections. but i have to tuck in a little.

      • I didn’t say he did was speeding or driving like a dick. That was a separate piece of advice. Two blocks of text = two different thoughts.

  12. I’ll tell you what the guy is, he’s a hot headed bully-coward. He gets the upper hand by flashing his badge and jerking his pistol.
    Maybe his jets will get cooled due to all the media attention along with his five day suspension and he will be cognizant that he’s on the radar and any further shenanigans will likely get him fired.
    One thing, there were reports of his road-raging, how many times has this moron done this where the discourteous negative contact WASN’T reported? I suspect quite a bit.

    Rowe had better cool his heels because an awful lot of people carry concealed in Washington State as Washington is a “shall issue” state and the potential for this to go wrong is certainly there. If Rowe shoots someone doing this sh–, he’s going to be in it really deep and the Sheriffs office probably won’t be able to cover it up or Rowe himself is going to get gunned down by some scared citizen and it again will be a very messy situation. No marked car, no uniform, no duty belt, bad attitude, pointing a gun etc. could get him killed.

    • I think you started off too slow. He’s an aggressive, dangerous criminal. Needs way more than to “cool his heels”. Why does not wearing a duty belt matter?

      • What does not having a duty belt on matter? When some jack ass approaches you with lights in the grill after stopping you, you’d better hope the guy is a real cop with at least a duty belt on and not pulling that idiotic BS Rowe was doing. Detectives in plain clothes generally don’t do traffic stops. That’s what matters, being able to determine quickly the guy is or isn’t an actual cop.

  13. 1) Idiot officer should’ve been shot and a larger settlement should’ve been ordered for threatening a citizen
    2) A PSA should’ve been sent out to all PDs about the importance of identifying oneself as an officer
    3) A PSA for all PDs and a refresher on the 4 safety rules.

    • Actually, they are retraining their officers. One thing, it wasn’t in the regulations that pulling your weapon was considered use of force and must be reported to your superior. So Rowe wasn’t doing it. Now they have clarified it and pulling your weapon IS considered use of force.
      Rowe is on thin ice and unless he’s a blithering idiot or has other serious issues, he’ll refrain from this sort of extra-curricular activity. It’s probably been a nice little adrenaline rush for him but that train has left the station.

      • This video is evidence that he has serious issues. Anybody who gets their jollies this way has serious issues. I can’t imagine the work culture in which this behavior would not be considered as having a serious issue is like.

        • You underestimate the depth of the police culture. A well known US Ambassador who was personal good friends with the late President bush told me a year ago when we driving down the street, that the police culture and blue line runs deeper than the cultural difference between blacks and whites.
          In other words, a black officers police culture runs deeper and more important than than the issues and culture of being black.
          I actually found that staggering at the time but totally believable. Rule number one….above ANYTHING else, protect your fellow officer.

      • So the department’s official position is that they were not aware that pulling a gun on someone is a use of force?!

        I suspect even a cursory review of police reports where a suspect pulled a gun on an officer would show that they all knew full well that pointing a firearm at another person is well known to be use of force. In fact, I also suspect that the department has used the very argument that “he had a gun” or “he pointed a gun” as justification for using deadly force.

        • “I suspect even a cursory review of police reports where a suspect pulled a gun on an officer would show that they all knew full well that pointing a firearm at another person is well known to be use of force.”

          Maybe the cop house was operating under the principle that “if it ain’t prohibited, it’s permitted”.

  14. I carry, but that idiot detective has the drop. He’d be standing in a haze of burnt rubber while I pushed the button for 911 while I really flew down the road. I would have reported an attempted car jacking.

  15. Moron effing cop, roid rage much, hope he gets his what a douche, he’s gonna draw down on some bad hombre and get his ass capped and deservedly. Award should be muuuuuch higher to set an example.

    • That’s the thing, eventually this idiot is going to run a ground of someone who’s frightened enough to shoot him, capable and confident enough to shoot him, or legitimately the bad ass he wishes he was, who shoots him…then whoever that is will be a ‘copkiller’ and universally a bad guy. You can’t get someone out of law enforcement fast enough when this is their actions and attitude. It’s a tyranny on the citizen, a blight on good cops, and the fact is he deserves to get shot, but that’s not apt to make the news when someone finally does for him what he so urgently needs done. This shouldn’t be over by a long shot. The guy has got to go.

      • Thats so true.

        Some of us concealed carriers dont f–k around, and have no time for bullshit. If there’s an immediate threat to our lives, we will draw down and shoot until the threat is stopped, even if we take a couple hits in the process. A fight to the death.

        Because the time it took for a reasonable person to figure out this was a cop was far too long in a practical sense to ascertain whether he was a threat or not. IDK wtf he was thinking not first identifying himself and drawing down on somebody when the escalation of force continuum didn’t require it.

        The motorbike rider got lucky IMO. If the other guy was a bad guy, instead of a cop, he would have been boned.

        • This has nothing to do with my words or my actions and everything to do with what a reasonable person would have done and what their perception would have been had some jackhole approached a motorist with a gun drawn in hand, not having identified themselves.

          Because the time from when he approached with his gun drawn and the time it took to ascertain reasonably that he was a plainclothes detective was extensive. And if it would have been a violent criminal rather than a detective? the motorcylist would have ended up dead at worst and vehicle-less at best.

          like I said elsewhere, he’s lucky if anything that it was a detective, despite the idiocy of the police officer.

        • oy. i’m confident it has nothing to do with your (in)actions.
          my reply specifically has to do with your word(s).

      • While that would not be a best case scenario, it is not the worst by far. Far more likely is that he does this, scares someone into running, or pushing him away, and then shoots them.

  16. It warms my heart to see(almost!) every comment condemning this thug with a badge…I don’t hate cops BTW. But in 64 years I’ve seen a helluva lot of abuse.

  17. This was not policing, it was road rage. Had the motorcyclist been armed he would have been 100% within his rights to shoot this road raging psycho pointing a gun at him.

  18. No way i would have taken that paltry settlement. Insist loudly and publicly that the DA try the case in criminal court and then go all civil on him and get his own personal money, car, house, etc.

    • Would be a very difficult case to win criminally so the DA would likely refuse and nothing would come of it.

      I suspect the plaintiff here was happy to get this done with.

  19. Looks like an armed robbery to me, and I wouldn’t have waited to look behind me and see a vehicle with blue lights. Thats how you end up good and dead.

    He’s lucky he didn’t get plugged and the person doing it would have no doubt faced a shit storm of legal cop protecting BS, if not a conviction.

    This idiot should be publicly caned to make a point, singapore style: nobody is above the law and having a gun and badge places you at a higher standard for procedure and decorum.

    still think the cops are your friends, gun owners?

  20. “What do you mean what am I doing? You’re fuckin’ driving reckless…”

    I’ll take “Not Acting Professionally” and “Piss Poor English” for $400 each, Alex. I can pick two right?

  21. Looked like he was robbing him. Next time someone might pop a cap in his ads thinking he was a crook. Not too smart.
    Now he can get a new Hayabusa , a zx14, and a Harley with money ledt over for gear.

  22. Good thing that wasn’t me. Because I probably would have been shot to death wresting around with a guy with road rage that got out of his car, walked over to my bike and without identifying himself or anything, proceeded to point a gun at me. If I didn’t die from a gun shot wound, I likely would have wrestled his old fat body to the ground and ever so slowly moved the barrel in line with his face while we both had our hands on the gun and popped one through his eye socket, causing the other eye ball to explode out of his head and bounce off my forehead while popping his melon like an inflamed zit all over the pavement.

    If you surprise people, unidentified, with a gun in their face, it puts you and them at risk, and if you kill someone because you did it, you are not a hero. Nobody is going to think you are a hero by surprising someone with a gun in their face. Or the opposite could happen, you could have gotten a soccer check, and a mag dump on YOU. The correct approach is to get on your PA, or put on your sirens, and correctly identify yourself so I can do my part in turn. You have a job to do. Do your job. Don’t carry yourself like a big headed authoritative dbag. Your “authority” is a negotiation between you and me. You assert “authority” and I agree to it. That’s how our existence works.

    The threats only made it worse. You can take things from me. But I can also take things… from you. Make no mistake about it. You serve the people; you serve the process. You don’t serve your emotions. So you should be serving in a manner that is appropriate, justifiable, and with decency – not an authoritative dbag that diminishes your held position by which others serve the public trust.

  23. Suspended 5 days w\out pay…. not enough IMO. It’s one thing to screw up in an emergent situation, but here he caused one. Everyone is lucky no one died there. It could have easily gone differently.

    Generally speaking I am loathe to have rules telling officers when they can and cannot draw a firearm; however, this guy… in plainclothes… trying to pull traffic… wtf are you thinking.

    • “Generally speaking I am loathe to have rules telling officers when they can and cannot draw a firearm; ”

      Not at all sure requiring cops to report every incident where they believed they were in imminent danger of death or grievous bodily harm is “telling officers when they can and cannot draw a firearm”.

      Any particular reason police should be allowed to draw a weapon when they are not in danger of death or grievous bodily harm? Why not the same for private citizens?

      • Because of the nature of police interactions like traffic stops, they are very often in danger of felonious assault and bodily harm. That’s the difference.
        How about clearing (searching) an abandoned building that has it’s door broken off?
        Report of a prowler?
        An unknown person with hands in their pockets approaching the side of a parked police car at night?

        Now, this case is entirely different. See, that’s the thing- I don’t want to punish officers who are acting reasonably. I DO want to be harsher on someone who acts like an idiot. It is the same philosophy I use when I say lawful citizens should not have to jump through a bunch of hoops to own a gun because some people act criminally. Instead, punish the criminals.

        • What keeps returning is some privilege for cops to draw weapons when things MIGHT go sideways, but not the same for armed private citizens – which would end with “menacing” or “brandishing” charges. All cops are “citizens”, or at least private persons before they become LEO.

          A job change should not confer allowances regarding firearms that are not afforded the non-cops who pay the cops to be cops. If I am sitting in a parked car, at night, and what I perceive to be a sketchy person approaches with hands in pockets. I quietly remove my S&W .500 revolver, and lay it on my lap. The sketchy person walks by, looks into my window, sees the gun, and calls 911 to report a threat. Where the LEO would get a full pass, I get an unfriendly visit by police, and maybe a free ride to a booking. This is the problem with cops not being required to report every time they unholster, regardless of the reason. Cops get leeway I cannot enjoy.

          In a town I used to frequent, a teen was driving erratically, at night. Cops pulled the car over, and approached from both sides of the car (W&W turned up nothing). With nothing other than a teen and erratic driving to justify the stop, both cops unholstered, with the one on the drivers side putting his revover against the left ear of the driver, and told him “Don’t move an inch”. For whatever reason, the teen dropped his hands from the steering wheel, and the cop on the driver’s side put two rounds in the teen’s head. The cop claimed that since the teen disobeyed a command, the shooting was justified. Cop was cleared of any wrong doing. BTW, the traffic stop reported was virtually no different from hundreds of similar stops, but the cops did not put a gun to the head of the drivers.

          Surely you can understand why we would want cops to be forced to deploy guns under the same rules/laws as non-LEO. Cops endure no detriment to their ability to patrol effectively if they must report each and every unholster.

  24. Hopefully we read in the news somewhere that this detective gets blown away by some perp. Honestly people like that have no place in society let alone being a law enforcement officer.

  25. I know a payday is tempting and lawyers cost money to even bring suit, but does anyone ever say: “I don’t want money I want that guy fired”

    • He should get money(the only way you can punish a police department for allowing officers to act this way) and the officer should be fired and have to fight a charge of violence with a firearm involved – if he loses he can never have a firearm. Misuse a firearm in that manner deserves confiscation.

  26. geepers. cop pulling a gun and POINTING it at a person without justification still has a job and isn’t in jail?

    can i get that deal?

  27. I see so many incidents like this on the news all the time. Don’t get me wrong, You couldn’t pay me enough to be a cop, I truly believe they put their lives on the line every day. But Having said that, There are some out there that really need to stripped of their badges and their weapons

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