Officer Put on Leave After Pulling Gun on Unarmed Man in Viral Video
On Thursday, a California police officer was placed on paid administrative leave in response to a viral video that shows him drawing his gun, apparently in response to a man filming him with his hand in his pocket.
“The city truly believes in community-oriented policing and deeply values the relationship between law enforcement and our community,” said a spokesperson for the city of Rohnert Park, California in a statement. “The incident portrayed on the video is not a typical interaction between our public safety officers and the public.”
According to the L.A. Times, the city says it will hire an independent outside investigator to review the incident and “ensure the greatest degree of impartiality and fairness.”
Last week, Facebook user Don McComas uploaded a video of the confrontation he says began when he started filming the officer circling his cul-de-sac. From KNTV:
In the video, the unidentified officer’s vehicle is seen driving toward McComas before stopping in front of his house. The officer then sits inside his SUV for nearly two minutes, and at one point, appears to be taking a picture of McComas with his own camera.
As McComas approaches the patrol car to record the license place number, the officer exits the vehicle and tells him to take his hands out of his pockets.
“No, sir. I’ve done nothing. I’ve done absolutely nothing. No,” McComas responds.
That is when the police officer unholsters his firearm and points it at McComas, who asks him to “put the gun down.” The video shows McComas backing away while repeatedly saying “do not touch me” and asserting he did nothing wrong and did not have a weapon.
“You have your gun out because you’re a police officer and you’re trying to intimidate me,” McComas eventually tells the officer, “and this is going all over YouTube!”
“Put it on YouTube,” the officer responds.
