Crossed the line, yes. Fired? Might be a bit draconian. I'd want to see a pattern of this behavior documented for this specific policeman before he's fired over it. Sanctioned? Yes. Written up, or otherwise, documented, but no, not fired. Not over this isolated event.
Nope. Greater authority = greater resonsibility. If a cop abuses his authority, he ought to end up washing dishes at the local Denny's.
This LEO does not deserve to be on the street. Good thing the “victim” had a camera or this would have never been proven. A Sgt violating every law in the book should be fired. In fact, the good Sgt violated this guys civil rights.
Um, he just said that he would be more than willing to “make up” charges to send someone to jail.
At this point, IMHO, every single arrest this officer has made or will make is now open to question and re-examination. His veracity is now in question - and by extension, his department’s. He needs to be fired.
This story gets keep getting bigger.
The Cop told his chief that his Cruiser Cam was malfunctioning. When tested it worked. But now the tape is missing.
The current police chief used to work for another city in the area. In 2002 he was disciplined by the state of Missouri for pulling over a 17 year old girl late at night, directing her to follow him to a deserted parking lot where he suggested she perform a sexual act on him.
The prior police chief called the radio station this morning (he did not defend the cop) but said he would not say anything bad about the man who was chief of police in 1981.
The Chief of Police in 1981 was involved with the Syrian mafia in St. Louis and pushed the button on the bomb that had been placed in the car of a rival mob boss. That bombing forced the FBI into St. Louis and after many arrests the local mafia was de-fanged.
The current Mayor of St. George used to be a police officer in another small town in St. Louis County that is also know for abusive police tactics.
Sounds to me like everybody driving through St. George needs to have a video camera.