Posted on 07/22/2011 1:14:25 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
Among the pressures facing police officiers working the streets of America is the rising number of people legally carrying concealed guns. But when one such licensee was pulled over in Canton, Ohio, an officer threatened to shoot him on the spot. Here's the chilling video.
The arrest took place in early June, but the video only came to light today from a group called Ohioans for Concealed Carry. They had been working on behalf of the driver of the Pontiac Grand Prix, known so far only as William, who was arrested and charged in the stop.
As the 17-minute dashcam video shows, the two Canton police officers see the car pulled over in a neighborhood and detain a male passenger and a woman standing outside, whom the officers quickly identify as a prostitute. After telling the driver to stay put, they detain the male passenger and search the back of the car for a few minutes.
Only after that search does Officer Daniel Harless start questioning William, some seven minutes into the video who then admits, when he can get a word in, that he has a concealed weapon, and tries to show Harless his permit. When he discovers William's gun in his belt, Harless instead becomes enraged: "You are supposed to say that right off the goddamned bat!"
Right now, the shit that you just pulled, I could blast you right in the mouth...I am so close to caving in you're goddamn head...you're just a stupid human being...People like you don't deserve to move throughout public. Stupid idiot."
After searching the car, getting worked up with his partner, and hearing from police dispatch that William does indeed have a legal permit to carry a concealed weapon, Harless comes back to the cruiser where William has been detained:
I swear to God man this little bull crap you just pulled right now has got me so hot. You know what I should have done? I'll tell you what I should have done. As soon as I saw your gun, I should have taken two steps back, pulled my Glock 40 and just put ten bullets in your ass and let you drop. And I wouldn'tve lost any sleep. And he would have been a nice witness as I executed you because you're stupid.
William was charged with two misdemeanor counts; one for stopping in the roadway, and another for failing to inform officers of his weapons.
After the video surfaced, the Canton police announced that Harless had been put on indefinite suspension last month, and the case forwarded to Internal Affairs. Ohio gun activists are raising money for William's defense. And the rest of us get to hope the next misunderstanding ends more amicably, rather than less.
I don’t care what happened in his life or in Ohio. You got a cop threatening to put a gun in the mouth of someone, they need to call in to work that day.
Got one?
It sounds like a bunch of gibberish coming from you...
So the officer is suspended but the charges still stand? Why?
People think steroids shrink the penis, but they actually shrink the testicles. The penis has a hard time (no pun) becoming erect due to steroids, so it looks shrunken.
Mainly because they got beat up a lot in high school and becoming a pig allows them to exact some form of vengeance on the worls.
Just so you konw, I just got that job.
Fact is: I still NEED that window.
But guess what - you don’t have to incriminate yourself and secondly he was not doing anything. There was no crime being committed. That whole hooker side is bogus anyway.
People who get carry permits are not shooting police officers.
This cop, who is playing Jim Belushi playing a cop, poorly, needs some head work. He enjoyed getting angry, and he did not calm down, but got angrier and angrier. It’s not the right demeanor and it is unprofessional. The other cop did his job quietly without resorting to psycho threats.
The psyche test they are using to screen these cops couldn’t tell the difference between David Berkowitz and PeeWee Herman.
I disagree. The purpose of CCW is that nobody knows you are carrying, that includes the pigs. CCW allows the carrier a measure of protection from thugs, be they criminals or cops.
In Iowa, the pigs have become noticeably more respectful since we passed CCW.
I wasn’t even thinking about steroids.
I figured it was just a ‘birth defect’.
:)
“This cop, who is playing Jim Belushi playing a cop”
I was reminded more of Harvey Keitel in “The Bad Lieutenant”.
Procedure ... when you are pulled over and asked for a license, you hand them BOTH ... your driver’s license and your gun “license”. I keep them back to back in my billfold so when I pull one, I pull both. Hand them both to the cop. I’ve done it often in Savannah (I have FL permit because I live in SC! ???). Lots of “roadblocks” there for different reasons. I’ve NEVER been asked if I was carrying the gun ... the cops just look at both and hand them back and off I go. NOT to do this is asking for trouble.
WHY would anybody be a cop?
To not really have to WORK for a living which includes very good benefits and retirement.
In Ohio your specifically required to notify immediately and as early as possible. They just passed a law within the last 30 days to modify this as it was overly broad and vague, but it doesn’t go into effect until something like January. This incident was about the time they were voting on it.
He attempted to tell the officer very early in the incident but was told to shutup before he could say anything. You can here him start the sentence and the response the first time they talk to him before talking with the “lady”. They also fail to listen to him as to why he is there (just off night shift cleaning duty) or how he knows her from when he was a taxi driver.
There are also threats toward the end about targeting him going forward anytime they see him in the area as retribution for his “lack of communication”.
According to the video, the cops were traveling blacked out which I assume means without headlights on and blew through at least one stop sign without stopping or slowing down. Laws apply to “them” not “us” mentality is readily apparent in the video.
In Ohio you are require to notify the officer that you have a permit and the staus of your carry (armed or not).
Oh forgot, the dispatch failed to imform the cop - until after the diatribe that the driver was a CCW carrier. Which I think just made him that much angrier.
“U wonder WHY anyhody would be cop. What does a cop make now’days after all their training, degrees and experience? $29k?”
Boy are you behind the times. Most cops I know make over $60K.
That cop should be fired on the spot.
“To Protect and to Serve”???????????
Never assume the police know or understand the law, 98% don't.
No they dont. Even the better police academies are only a few months long. The time is spent on basic traffic laws, self defense, driving, some marksmanship (spray and pray) and learning the paperwork. Anything else they pick up is from talking with each other.
While working on my Sociology degree I had to take a number of Police Science courses, I was a long haired bearded biker in a classroom full of young cops. These cops would end up being better cops, wanting to know more about the law. Being young they were just entering the us and them mindset. My presence in the classroom helped them overcome it. I actually made some friends.
When I noticed their almost total lack of knowledge of law I realized why some LEOs were so ignorant of it. The experience also changed my attitude toward them. From then on Id try to maintain my cool when pulled over. All I would say was Yes sir, no sir. Id sign the ticket and take it to court. It does no good to argue with a cop.
It looks like a classic case of the Matt Dillon Syndrome.
A lady accidentally hit my car right in front of a restaurant a couple months back. Luckily, there were 2 cops inside. I politely went up to them and told them the situation. I have a license to carry and I was at the time, but I didn't tell them until we were in the breezeway of the restaurant where no body else could hear when I told them I was armed. Kinda funny, they were more surprised that it was little old nerdy me carrying a full sized 1911 then any concern that I actually had a gun.
Moral of the story here is if there is a law where I have to announce it to the cops first thing, it might not be a wise idea. I don't want to have to rely on how each individual cop interprets self defense laws which is kind of the way it is.
The guy did try to tell the officer that was illegally searching his ca and was told to shut up. He also was holding his permit and trying to give it to the officer when he walked up to talk to him after 5 minutes of harrasment to the passenger in the vehicle and the female outside the vehicle. The cop was wrong, period.
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