Posted on 08/06/2010 11:37:43 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Off-duty officer wrestled with shopper, pulled gun on customers: report
A Fort Lauderdale cop whose off duty antics inside a 7-11 included wrestling with a shopper and pulling his gun on other customers is facing charges of battery and falsifying reports.
Officer Jason Hersh, 34, was served with a summons Thursday on the three misdemeanor charges for the incident last December inside a Fort Lauderdale beach store, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Hersh, a 5-year veteran alleged in his reports that the shopper, Lee Ferrell, had made an aggressive move towards him, forcing him to tackle Ferrell.
But according to prosecutors, a surveillance camera inside the 7-11 showed Hersh to be the aggressor. He allegedly grabbed Ferrell and threw him outside after the two exchanged words inside.
Hersh, who wasn't wearing his uniform, then pulled a gun on the crowd that assembled to watch the scuffle, ordering them to go back inside.
Ferrell was arrested and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Prosecutors dropped the charges after reviewing the surveillance tape.
"What he writes in his report is contrary to what is seen on that video," prosecutor Spencer Multack told the Sun-Sentinel. Hersh has been on paid leave since December 9, and may be suspended without pay.
It wouldn't be the first time Hersh has been reprimanded. His actions in the May 2009 shooting of a man suspected of trying to cash a stolen check was called "careless" by an investigator who said he "unnecessarily" put people's lives in danger.
Two years earlier, in May 2007, Hersh was involved in another shooting involving a 15-year-old driver who took police on a high speed chase.
In both shootings, the suspects were seriously injured.
One of those guys who joined the force to get back at Daddy?
Any day now!
< /floriduh >
The cops screwed up. They forgot to impound the video for “processing.” Like in the Costco case.
it’s taking less and less to make those “heros” melt down these days, isn’t it?
Tthree ***misdemeanor*** charges?????
What I find annoying is that the guy got arrested purely on what the cop said. I would make sure that this guy never received another dime from any profession without me wetting my beak first.
“Ferrell was arrested and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Prosecutors dropped the charges after reviewing the surveillance tape.”
Eric Scott case the NV P.D. is closing ranks also.
YOU PEOPLE (and you know who you are) on FR who keep giving the Police the benefit of the doubt are fools. It’s time to defund the police. Vote NO for every bond issue and sales tax designed for Police/Fire public safety. If your Federal level representative is giving federal grant money for “first responsers’ tell him you will vote against him.
Union thugs. Not to be trusted. An institutional problem to be remedied by starving the beast. Make them pull the 1972 crown vics out of the junk yard and drive those.
Clearly this is why the cops are bullying and arresting people who videotape them.
Seriously, DEFUND the Police?
Dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.
Yep, there are bad cops, but defunding the Police will ENSURE the criminals are running the show....
The many good cops out there should be paid well. The bad cops, like this one, should go to jail and should never be allowed near authority power again.
LOL, the Thin Blue Line that we cant live w/o according to them. COPs, a gang of chest beaters who are legends in their own eyes....the putz patrol.
How would it ensure that? The criminals ARE running things right now and are using the police to enforce their agenda.
I myself was falsely arrested recently, when I refused to consent to an unconstitutional search of my vehicle, after being stopped in an obvious case of racial profiling. I was white guy driving in the wrong neighborhood, after having dropped off my black girlfriend.
I have a friend who, if stopped by Lauderdale PD, will close his windows and lock his car doors, and then call the sheriff's office and wait for them to arrive. That's how much he distrusts Lauderdale PD.
IMHO, Lauderdale PD is dominated by a bunch of clowns who abuse their power, don't know the Constitution, and could care less whether it existed or not...
Fort Lauderdale and Miami have had to LOWER their police requirements to attract folks willing to wear the badge in such a crap hole.
Obviously not always the best caliber folks attracted.
Only misdemeanor charges? The problem with our police forces is they have not evolved beyond the first police municipal force in New York in the Nineteenth Century. The city decided to hire one of the warring gangs to be on its side. Until “cops” like this are charged with felonies for pulling deadly weapons on people, with assaulting people, and filing false official statements, our police forces will simply be gangs with uniforms.
Yeah, still waiting for that truth to see the light of day.
In many cities, the crims are running the show. Some are pd and some pol. Check out Chicago. I spent 4 yrs on the pd and quit to buy a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Big cities have rot under their facade.
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