A Cop Stopped A Car For Speeding – Then Pointed A Gun At A Passenger For More Than 9 Minutes

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A video taken during a traffic stop in California is drawing debate over the officer’s decision to keep his gun pointed at the passenger for more than nine minutes.

The stop took place last Wednesday morning along U.S. Route 101, south of San Jose, after an officer noticed a car pass him going 85 mph, according to the Campbell Police Department.

After stopping the car for speeding, the officer requested the driver’s license and additional paperwork. The driver and passenger spent several minutes looking for the paperwork before the officer walked back to his motorcycle to write a citation, police said.

It was at that point their stories diverged. According to police, the passenger began reaching “under his seat.”

“It is not clear why the passenger chose to reach under the seat since the officer was not requesting any other paperwork,” Campbell police said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the passenger’s unexpected movement towards the bottom of the seat, caused the officer to perceive a threat and draw his handgun.”

However, a man sitting in the vehicle’s passenger seat – the target of the officer’s gun – maintained throughout the incident that he had simply been reaching for some papers on the floor to try to find the vehicle’s license and registration, as requested.

A video that apparently was recorded by a woman in the car begins as the male passenger is expressing incredulity that the officer has pulled a gun.

 

The video lasts a little more than nine minutes total, and the officer’s gun is pointed at the male passenger the entire time. Police said in a statement the officer had to wait longer than usual for backup to arrive “and provide assistance in safely resolving the situation.”

“We understand that it is never a comfortable position to have a gun pointed at you, regardless of whether it is a police officer,” police said. “Unfortunately, the length of time that the officer’s gun was drawn lasted much longer than normal based on his location.”

Police said the traffic stop was resolved amicably.

“In the end, the officer had a conversation with the passenger of the vehicle explaining his actions and why the gun was pointed at him,” police said. “The passenger indicated he understood why it happened and actually apologized to the officer. Both the driver and the passenger were issued citations and were allowed to leave.”

 

Police departments are under increased scrutiny for violent, often fatal interactions with suspects. So far this year, 594 people have been shot and killed by police, according to The Washington Post’s Fatal Force database. Last year, police shot and killed 963 people.

(c) 2017, The Washington Post · Amy B Wang 

{Matzav.com}


20 COMMENTS

  1. The driver is very lucky the stupid coward police officer didn’t shoot him dead. That’s usually how things end up. 9 minutes?!
    594 citizens have been murdered by our police???! Where have we gone wrong? The police are completely incompetent.

  2. “stupid coward police officer”? Who are you going to call if a prowler enters your house at 1:00 AM? Police dispatcher please only send the smart, heroic police officer? Reading the story it seems that the gun was pointed at the passenger, not the driver.

    Maybe you should read what the protocols are for police in that jurisdiction. It is very possible that this officer did “everything by the book”.

    • The police is great…for filing paperwork, not so much for stopping a crime in progress. Average burglary lasts 5 minutes, average police response time is 20 minutes.
      At any rate, why should a policeman’s life be more valuable than a motorist’s?! Do you realize how dangerous it is to point a firearm at somebody – one startling sound, and the cowardly cop would have unloaded half the magazine at the guy. So why subject the motorist, who wasn’t even a crime suspect, to such great risk? Because the little cop was scared? If the coward can’t take the pressure, he should look for another line of work.

        • Here are mine papiren, Herr Komandant! Since when not producing your documents not fast enough for the officers liking, make you a suspect and you life is put at risk of having a gun pointed at you?!

  3. “The passenger indicated he understood why it happened and actually apologized to the officer. ”

    So, why is this news?

  4. petrified… you jerk…you know haw many law enforcers, police fbi ec etc were mowed down because they had to hesitate a second beause of such situations!! and because of the aclu that passed such liberal laws…Listen, once thay couldnt produce id on the spot,they are suspect….just see some fbi file cases!!!!

    • No one is forcing a person to become a police officer. If that’s the career they chose, then they have to take all the risks into consideration BEFORE they get involved. It’s not just about taking coffee breaks and staring at passersby. I’m not shedding any tears for these cops. It is THEIR decision to don the uniform. Just because it’s dangerous, it doesn’t mean they can threaten any citizen. As far as I know, it’s still a free country.

    • So you are willing to risk yours and your loved ones lives so that a cop can feel safer?! You’d make an exemplary subject of such dictators as Stalin, Hitler, Kim il sung, perhaps even Idi Amin would invite you for dinner…

      • your such a jerk..you really talk like a twisted brain dead lefty..again , one more chance to straighten your …whatever you have up there, if you dont have your id’s an officer sees one of occupants reaching under seat he has every riight to protect himself because its very very possible that a uzi will come up. just rad up on many many such senarios that happened . so again oficer did not sign up to protect such ungrateful citizes like you to commit suicide. also , why is pointing a gun on suspecious charachters like you ‘riking the safety of family ?!

        • Your coherency, grammar and spelling confirm a commonly used statement that it takes a jerk to know one. How is resisting big government’s violations of individual rights a lefty issue? If anything, the leftists are always pro big government and always hijack the discussion towards imaginary racism, thereby preventing the real conversation about the government growing too powerful.

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