The Video...

By now, pretty much everyone's commented on "The Video" (Weerd has a link to it in this post). In a nutshell, a Canton, OH police officer goes certifiably batshit insane upon finding out that the guy he's been harassing has a CCW license and a concealed handgun. He first threatens to beat the guy up ("put lumps on you") and graduates to threatening to kill him ("put 10 in you and then go home and sleep like a baby") over the course of the video.

According to the Canton, OH PD's facebook page, the officer has been "relieved of duty" - given that these types of officers generally do not last long without a compliant or completely inept chain of command, I suspect he's got a paid vacation. Several things spring to mind about this:

1. I am shocked, frankly, that the video saw the light of day. I'll tip my hat to the Canton PD that the video didn't suddenly "go missing" or have "technical difficulties" - go watch that video (take blood pressure meds first). It's bad. REAL bad. That cop has serious issues with anger management, and he does not handle himself in a professional manner. His partner's reaction doesn't exactly instill confidence that these sorts of incidents are reported to the chain of command - one wonders what would have happened had the guy who was arrested not retained counsel.

2. This cop needs to be fired, prosecuted, and should seek professional help. If this is how he reacts to a citizen legally carrying a firearm, how the bloody hell is he going to react to some punk pulling a stolen gun on him? If he continues as a police officer, he will kill someone eventually - generally these types of incidents don't happen out of the blue, and I'd wager that there are several other such incidents that were not followed up on out there. Even if he's fired, he should never work as a cop again - or a security guard, etc. in any sort of position of authority. At least not until he exorcises whatever demons he's carrying around inside his head.

3. The dude in the video really needs to learn to clam up. Once the cop threatened his life, nothing he said was going to matter. "I would like to talk to my attorney" is the only thing that should have come out of his mouth after being threatened with physical harm. Whether or not you believe his story is a matter of discussion; the one thing that's crystal clear is that nothing he said was going to influence the officer's demeanor one whit. In a situation like this, silence is golden.

4. You do have the phone number of a 2A-versed lawyer memorized/in your cell phone/among your personal effects/with your carry permit, right? RIGHT?

5. Both officers display, IMHO, shockingly bad situational awareness. The partner is rooting around in the back seat of the car with absolutely no regard for what the two people in the front seat are doing - they are not removed from the vehicle, they are not restrained, they are just kinda watching him over their shoulder. If either had malicious thoughts, that cop would have been dead before he knew what happened, and chances are good that Officer Steroid would have stroked out before he had a chance to respond.

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That video is frightening on many levels. First, that an officer would be that close to outright murder and his partner shrugs it off? It sure puts the Jose Guerena and Erik Scott shootings in a different light, doesn't it? It shows the need for CCW holders to rehearse traffic stop scenarios beforehand, and to have the number of a competent 2A-versed attorney available (this video came to light as a result of the defendant's legal counsel). It shows that not all cops are our friends, that not all police officers are friendly to CCW holders - in fact, they can be downright hostile.

We don't know all the facts of the case, that much is true. What we can assume, though, is that the citizen with the CCW has a clean record (since he has the CCW permit); we can assume that whatever the reason for the traffic stop was insignificant (since the first thing the DA did was offer to drop all charges in exchange for not pressing charges against the officer/PD); and we can extrapolate that we need to exercise the greatest care when dealing with members of the law enforcement community. We don't have to see them as the enemy, necessarily (although in this case it's certainly fitting); but we view them as allies at our own peril.

Sadly, they're not all like officer Matt Lyons, LawDog, or MattG.

That is all.