Cop: "You're Recording Me? I Will Pull My Gun On You."

[PickelledEggs]

I really hope you guys are never in a situation where a cop asks you to do something so he can secure his own safety...

[PickelledEggs]

*Does that guy have a weapon?*
"Take your hand out of your pocket"

"NO I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"

*holy shit. is he about to fight me? better get ready for something*

[PickelledEggs]

*why is this guy filming me... I'm just doing my patrol route... maybe he's paranoid about something... better check it out*

*I better check out this license plate, in case there are any records on this guy so I have better info if I need to do something*

*why is this guy coming closer to my vehicle with his hands in his pocket? does he have a weapon? I better get out, so I can better defend myself*

[PickelledEggs]

I don't know what are the reasons the cop was there in the first place, but the funny thing is, you don't know why he was there either. All we know is that he came up after being recorded, tried getting info on the car and the guy, the cop heard the boat guy saying "this guy thinks he's funny", which raises more suspicion.
Then the guy approached the car with his hands in his pocket, which is reason to consider him not only suspicious, but also potentially dangerous.

All the cop asked for is for the guy to get his hands out of his pocket. Why the boat guy got so defensive about it, I don't know. But defensiveness out of nowhere like that is reason to be cautious. hence why the cop pulled his gun to be ready to defend himself.
What about that are you not understanding?

[Sargon The Grape]

I don't know what are the reasons the cop was there in the first place, but the funny thing is, you don't know why he was there either. All we know is that he came up after being recorded, tried getting info on the car and the guy, the cop heard the boat guy saying "this guy thinks he's funny", which raises more suspicion.
Then the guy approached the car with his hands in his pocket, which is reason to consider him not only suspicious, but also potentially dangerous.

All the cop asked for is for the guy to get his hands out of his pocket. Why the boat guy got so defensive about it, I don't know. But defensiveness out of nowhere like that is reason to be cautious. hence why the cop pulled his gun to be ready to defend himself.
What about that are you not understanding?

None of which would have happened had the cop done his job rather than deciding to be a smartass, then a thug. What about that are you not understanding?

Again, I do not disagree on the point that boat guy could have handled it better. My position is that blame lies with the cop for starting the confrontation unnecessarily. Considering that the city has apparently sided with boat guy (quoting Shiranu on that one), there is no reason to doubt his story regarding the cop randomly deciding to park in front of his house prior to the recording.

[PickelledEggs]

None of which would have happened had the cop done his job rather than deciding to be a smartass, then a thug. What about that are you not understanding?

Again, I do not disagree on the point that boat guy could have handled it better. My position is that blame lies with the cop for starting the confrontation unnecessarily. Considering that the city has apparently sided with boat guy (quoting Shiranu on that one), there is no reason to doubt his story regarding the cop randomly deciding to park in front of his house prior to the recording.

Hey. At least we're not in TOTAL disagreement... I guess that's a plus.

[mauricio]

I want to address this idea of victim blaming, because i think it conflates two different concepts of responsibility and distinctions need to be made to better understand who is being blamed and what does that entail. I was gonna type a response explaining the difference between causal responsibility and moral responsibility. But found the work done for me in this article. Thanks google.

http://benhourigan.com/2015/10/04/on-victim-blaming-and-moral-responsibility/

This might help stop the talking past each other going on here about who "is to blame" for the scalation of the conflict in this video and what does that actually mean. Imo it is much better to see this first as just neutral factors that contribute to the scalation then contrast them with the expected rules of behavior for cops and civilians in this situations. Then when you have all the more factual shit clear then examine it with your chosen ethical framework.

[Shiranu]

Considering that the city has apparently sided with boat guy...

To clarify (i'll find the article in a bit), the city said that the officer did nothing illegal or outside of his power and so there were no reparations made towards the guy suing him (which again is fine by me), but at the same time he did handle the situation poorly and was transfered on his request to the fire department.

It was more, "Both sides fucked up" rather than one or the other. But my problem is this; the cop is suppose to be trained and responsible. As someone who is suppose to protect and serve, he get's held to a higher standard (as he should be) than an average guy on the street.

[Johan]

So... you want to question the police report and the camera evidence. Out of curiosity, how are we suppose to come to any legal conclusion if neither the police report or camera evidence can be trusted? Or does that only apply when they both don't go the way you like.

No. I only wish to point out that neither you nor I can really know what the full story is here. But of the two of us, one of us is choosing to get their dainty undergarments all up in a bunch in about it and the other is going eh' might be how the video makes it out to be, might not, can't tell and won't lose sleep over it either way because there would be no point in doing so.

I accept your admission that you were wrong. It was fun, have a good one!

I have no trouble being wrong or admitting when it happens because if I'm wrong it means I've learned something. That being said, nice try kiddo but no, there is nothing that I've written in this thread which is wrong. You don't know the full story and neither do I. Did the cop overstep? Perhaps. It would appear that way, but we can't really know. How much did he overstep? Again we can't know because we can't know what took place in the minutes days and years before the video began. That is in a nutshell all that I've said in this thread. If you want to believe I'm wrong and that we can in fact know EVERYTHING that could have taken place outside of the video which could have been a factor in what took place inside the video well.... you keep dreaming and maybe someday your dream will come true. But not today. If you want to believe that what took place in the minutes days or years before the video is automatically completely irrelevant, again, you keep dreamin'. There are lots of possible scenarios which could be very relevant but we.... wait for it.... wait for it... can't know.

[drunkenshoe]

did he make the complaint before the incident? Of course not, I have no idea why you think that is relevant. So he made a complaint, that is the fucking idea! 

It's very relevant, because all the Sherlocks we have here started to the thread with 'we don't know what he did and why the cop followed him' and then moved to 'confrontation' in the frame of cops pull guns anyway. Could you please tell me, why anyone who did something to fall in a police intervention and according to your idea shot the vid for 15 mins would make an official complaint about it later? Does that make sense to you? The vids out, if he is shooting for just a 15 mins fame.

You know what though, if the asshole didn't drop everything he was doing and run to the street to start videoing the po-po maybe the jack-ass wouldn't be able to make a compliant and become the latest internet hero. But that wouldn't fit your preconceived notion that every cop is a piece of shit  out to kill every person that may be sitting in their yard playing with kids and not doing anything wrong at all….because that is what happened here right?

Strawman. Bullshit. Not me, not one of the posters here wrote or defended anything of the sort. We are talking about one video. One cop. It's your preconcieved idea that a COP can act that way and you fill in the blanks with the general idea of most of your fellow countrymen are either potentially 'mentally ill mass murderers' or whoring for fame at every opportunity.

This ass-hole watched a patrol car circle the neighborhood and decided that he was going to be confrontational, openly mock the officer while videoing him and flipping him the finger and become a fucking HERO OF THE INTERNET.  And hey, he got a few dumb fucks to buy it.

LOL Yeah what did he eat for breakfast that day, aitm? Bacon? May be he has a sweet toooth in the mornings what do you think? Tell us what do your medium senses tell?

You want to speculate, here is a rational one for you. He highly likley didn't even put that vid up before making a complaint and getting that dumb ass response with vacation. Can you make the connection with the video.

[drunkenshoe]

But my problem is this; the cop is suppose to be trained and responsible. As someone who is suppose to protect and serve, he get's held to a higher standard (as he should be) than an average guy on the street.

He is not a rookie. Do you think he is a rookie? It's not just training, it is also experience. When did he start the job? Couple of years ago?

When officers handle very simple situations poorly, peole die there. He has the upper hand and the role. All he needed to do a simple explanation to the man. "I am partoling...or you had it wrong I a her eto check around, no need to panic...etc." What does he do? ... And apparently it is OK for most people. Scary. 

[Baruch]

There is a difference, in English (Shoe), between what a person should do, and what a person can do.  Young adults concentrate on the "should" and older adults concentrate on the "can".  Getting out your on-line thru Seri complete list of statutes governing citizen-police interactions and lecturing the cop ... is rather psychotic.

First rule ... don't move unless he tells you to.
Second rule ... do exactly what he says, slowly and immediately.
Third rule ... the first two are so that you survive the encounter.

[aitm]

I want my cops responding to criminal activity, not sitting there evaluating whether there's some hidden significance behind someones totally legal action

As far as I am concerned the cop did exactly what I want him to do. He is patrolling and some guy supposedly hooking up his own boat, or is it his, suddenly stops and gets all wiggy and starts to record me. Yeah, that shit ain't right. Innocent people don't stop what they are doing just because a squad car drives down the street. I mean, do you? When you see a squad car do you stop what you are doing and start recording in case...I don't know, why would you? Unless, perhaps you're a fucking thief.

[drunkenshoe]

There is a difference, in English (Shoe), between what a person should do, and what a person can do.  Young adults concentrate on the "should" and older adults concentrate on the "can".  Getting out your on-line thru Seri complete list of statutes governing citizen-police interactions and lecturing the cop ... is rather psychotic.

First rule ... don't move unless he tells you to.
Second rule ... do exactly what he says, slowly and immediately.
Third rule ... the first two are so that you survive the encounter.

Baruch, the problem here is directly related to the fucked up GUN PROBLEM of the US. That's what fucks everything up. Everything you say up there can go without the pulling gun routine if there is a situation for a cop to intervene, without the ultimate conviction that EVERYBODY has a gun and ready to fire to kill.

I swear it is almost like most people here can't even 'imagine' any cop situtaion without a gun EVEN THOUGH they are not the part of that gun culture. How fucked up is that?

[Sargon The Grape]

To clarify (i'll find the article in a bit), the city said that the officer did nothing illegal or outside of his power

Yeah, that's what frightens me.