Posted on 09/22/2007 8:03:54 AM PDT by beltfed308
ST. GEORGE — A police officer who was recorded berating a motorist earlier this month has lost his job.
The board of aldermen voted 5-0, with one member absent, to fire Sgt. James Kuehnlein on Monday. The vote was cast in a session closed to the public and wasn't announced until Wednesday, when a notice was posted at the City Hall of this tiny south St. Louis County community.
In a video that got wide viewership on the Internet, Kuehnlein taunts and threatens motorist Brett Darrow, 20, sometimes shouting and using profanity, after questioning him in a commuter lot near Interstate 55. Darrow posted the footage of the Sept. 7 incident on the web.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Thanks for playing RP and for my first 500 count thread.
1:07
Officer #1: How we doin? What’s going on?
Brett: Nothing.
Officer #1: Why you parking here?
Brett: Can’t I park here? It’s a commuter lot right?
Officer #1: Yeah, but we have problems after midnight time. People break into cars. You got any ID on you?
Brett: Yeah, I do.
Officer #1: Can I see it please?
Brett: Did I do something wrong?
Officer #1: Yeah you’re a suspicious vehicle right now.
Brett: I’m what?
Officer #1: [Leans into the car and yells] You are a suspicious vehicle right now.
Brett: In a commuter parking lot?
Officer #1: Yeah you are cause we have car thieves in here. Yeah you’re right.
Brett: Cause I can park right here.
Officer #1: You want me — You wanna come out of the car? Come on out. Come on out.
You are in effect, defending the actions of a rogue cop. -- You said "right or wrong cops should stick together" .
no you dolt,
Typical. You're losing control because you're losing the debate.
not right cops or wrong cops! cops stick together just because they stick together. not right or wrong in terms of backing up cops who break the laws.
Good. You've finally admitted cops who break the laws should not backed.
are you serious. have you never heard of figures of speech? if a family member of yours did something stupid or illegal, would you disown them? or would you perhaps condemn their behavior but offer support? that is called sticking together.
My family/co-workers/country right or wrong? -- Read about the Nurenberg principle, -- wherein illegal acts can not be condoned. Offering support for condemned behavior is constitutionally repugnant.
and no, dangerous situations have little do with with protecting the constitution. they have to do with getting you and your fellow cops home alive.
Pitiful rationalism. The rogue cop at issue was causing dangerous situations to occur.
i'm not talking about a car stop of a 20 year old punk kid. i'm talking about real danger.
I'm talking about the real dangers posed by overzealous cops to the 'punk citizens' they stop. Not to long ago we had a thread on FR about such a shootout, - and nobody won.
you seem to be thoroughly out of touch with how to interpret normal discourse. step away from the computer, go outside and talk to actual people.
I do. Most here are regular people who are making your 'discourse' look ridiculous.
And the cop was cordial for about 15 seconds and then proceeded to be an a$$hole for the next 10 minutes. So I guess I’ll compromise with you and say he is only 97.5% USDA graded a$$hole. Someone with that kind of a hair trigger has no business being equipped with a loaded firearm and a badge. I hope he can’t get even so much as a job as a meter maid from now on. In fact it gives me enormous levels of satisfaction to know that he will go from “Do you know how fast you were going” to “Would you like to supersize that”.
LOL! I have a feeling that this Sgt. will go to another department but we will hear about him again. Hopefully nobody gets hurt.
Post #8 in this thread has the transcript. I’ll just let everyone decide for themselves.
Well one would hope that at a bare minimum that part of the hiring process is a national criminal background check and typing the guy’s name into Google. Google is fast becoming HR’s favorite tool. I would hope that he doesn’t get a glowing letter of recommendation from his previous employer.
And it seems that everyone has, the overwhelming majority of posters to this thread have come to the correct conclusion that this guy needed a promotion from Sgt. to Major A$$hole.
The tape is essentially an impartial witness. I see what he did as indicative of someone who has been falsely accused/ticketed/railroaded by the police in the past, and he had enough of it--and as it turns out, he was right, he was being threatened and harassed. Maybe nobody believed him the first time, so this time he was going to get the proof, if it happened again. And it did!
In this case the proof turned up an abusive, dirty cop who deserved to go. If he behaved himself and did his job right, there would be no story here and no one would have been "set-up."
Funny how it's considered a "set-up" by some when it's a citizen doing the taping to protect himself, but it's okay if the police do it.
The dry text of the transcript is damning enough evidence, you should also recommend that everyone watch the tape so that you can hear the tone and inflection of what Ofc. Goosestep is saying as well. He’s obviously off of his meds.
Thanks, Wildcat!
Kuehnlein himself pleaded guilty of assault and stealing in two different cases, in 1988 and 1990. He successfully petitioned a judge in St. Louis County in 1998 to expunge his criminal record, which was making it hard for him to get work as a cop. The judge ordered those records sealed, as well as records of an acquittal for drunken driving and an assault arrest that did not result in charges.
Court records might be able to be sealed, but Google is forever. Just type his name into Google and see how many hits come up with this incident with Brett Darrow.
Citizens take note: if you have to pull in somewhere, put your hazard lights on! At least no one will have to guess why you're there.
Maybe you'll get help instead of being yelled at by the police.
You will be, if you're cute. :)
i think our disconnect lies in the fact that i am assuming a bad cop has been caught doing something and other officers, while condemning the behavior, may show support by helping his family out with a couple of bucks, showing up at court proceedings and the like. wouldn't you do that for a brother?
i didn't mean hiding a rogue fugitive cop in your basement in order for him to ellude capture! you guys are priceless!
however, if my brother commits a crime, he is still my brother and i'll support HIM through his ordeal, while NOT supporting his behavior.
who in their right mind would support illegal acts, other than criminals?
You mean like a Chief of Police who was found to have propositioned a 17 year old girl for sex while detaining her who seemed to be more upset that one of his cops was caught on tape doing something criminal and not too upset about the criminal act itself??? Or a Sgt who had to have his convictions expunged and sealed by an accommodating judge??? Seems like one big happy family in St. George.
You never said the above words, so I hardly had the ability to twist them? Giving a few bucks to help his family (who probably has suffered greatly long before the incident in question and will continue to suffer until the bully eats his non-issue pistol), showing up at his trial, and the like are nice things to do, and I have done such myself...
That's a fact.
They need to add a psych eval to the interview process. This cop had all the stability of nitroglycerin.
But it's OK to threaten to?
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