Cop who berated Uber driver is stripped of badge and gun

NY Post ^ | April 1 | Shawn Cohen

[Straight Vermonter]

The NYPD detective who was caught on video chewing out an Uber driver has been stripped of his shield and gun, and will be placed on modified duty, Police officials said.

Detective Patrick Cherry has been removed from the department’s elite Joint Terrorism Task Force and will be doing desk duty until he is officially transferred out of the prestigious division.

“No good cop should watch that video without a wince,” Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a Wednesday press conference. “Because all good cops know that officer just made their jobs a little bit harder.”

“In that kind of encounter, anger like that is unacceptable,” Bratton continued. “In any encounter, discourtesy and obscene language like that is unacceptable.

“That officer’s behavior reflected poorly on everyone who wears our uniform.”

The incident was being investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau before being taken over by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, police said.

[CaptainK]

Since when does a cop have the right to berate someone who had done nothing wrong?

The Uber driver was polite and complied with the officer even though he did nothing wrong.

The officer was the one who didn't signal. He should have ticket himself and left the Uber driver alone. He was the one who should have kept his mouth shut.

[Amagi]

There has to be a better job of selecting law enforcement officers.
When they cross the line they need to dispatched.
This stupid jerk is a disgrace, and he should have been summarily fired.
His words as well as his actions indicate his pompous self-superiority.
Compare and contrast this jackass' incident with Darren Wilson.

[CyberAnt]

No, I wasn’t “sheltered”.

I had parents who obeyed the law. They taught me to obey the law. It’s amazing how much LESS TROUBLE you have in life if you just obey the law.

I’m not saying the law is always right.

[roadcat]

It’s amazing how much LESS TROUBLE you have in life if you just obey the law.

I obeyed the law alright. I've never been in jail. But there were numerous times I was pulled over and had my car illegally searched. And the cops were downright nasty about it. Living and growing up in the Mission District of SF makes one experience things you perhaps didn't see in quiet suburbs. A few times they issued traffic tickets because they were pissed off they didn't find any drugs in my car. One time I was driving 10 mph in an alley and they hassled me. After a search of my car, they issued me a speeding ticket of going 20 mph in the 15 mph alley, even though I was only going 10 mph. I was not breaking any law. I have relatives and friends who are cops, and they told me stories (true stories) of bad cops who just like being nasty to civilians. One of my brothers-in-law quit SFPD because he couldn't stand the culture of intimidation used against civilians. In working with SFPD I've done ride-alongs with cops and see what they're up against with bad elements of society, but they shouldn't take it out on innocent civilians who coincidentally are not breaking the law.

[armydawg505]

The point is that it seems that being on camera would cause a behavior change. For some, it has not.

[Robert Teesdale]

That's really not the issue. Why can't they just treat people with respect? It should not matter if they are on video or not.

Because they don't want to.

[Robert Teesdale]

I had parents who obeyed the law. They taught me to obey the law. It’s amazing how much LESS TROUBLE you have in life if you just obey the law.

That's quite true.

I’m not saying the law is always right.

The Law is an ass.

Unrelated to morality, decency or reasonableness (although they at times correlate with the law). Law is only about one thing: power.

Too many enjoy it too much.

[SamAdams76]

Turns out you were 40% correct. Which is better than being 0% correct.