For those that prefer print to video:
This seems to happen a lot.
I’m not usually one to support folks going for the lawsuit lottery, but I hope this guy gets big bucks. Sounds like the dealership people are a bunch of jerks.
Sue the cops, too.
If you or I point a gun at a cop under the mistaken impression they were carjackers, they’d shoot to kill, and be justified.
Why is it *not* assault with a deadly weapon when they point a gun at someone without any indication that person is, or might be, armed? I’m sorry, just declaring “you’re considered armed and dangerous” is a B.S. excuse to point loaded weapons. Absent an actual, reasonable suspicion — like eyewitness report of a weapon, or the dealership reporting an armed robbery — they should not be allowed to present deadly force.
Imagine that was just a stop for a routine infraction, like failing to completely stop at a stop sign — would their behavior be appropriate then? You can’t claim this is different because of the reported theft, because in both scenarios, nobody has seen the driver do anything dangerous or deadly. (More importantly, the cops would have first-hand knowledge of an actual offense instead of overreacting to an allegation of one.)
Even assuming the cops acted according to “the book”, you have to ask why the man was terrified. This is no different from “swatting” incidents, and while the “perp” (who called the cops) should face serious consequences, the fact is that “swatting” is only a problem because the cops act the way they do and people can be hurt or killed and not just frightened.
In this case, if the cops had done the exactly the same thing — but without guns pointed at the man (and the cuffing into the patrol car) — could the situation have been resolved as just a cautious misunderstanding and without all the angst?
Thanks for the link.