[ad_1]
A Wisconsin Police Department retaliates against a mobile phone video taken during a traffic stop circulating on social media, arguing that body camera footage showing the incident from a different perspective proves an officer did not try to “plant evidence” in the back seat of the vehicle.
The incident happened at around 3:22 p.m. on Wednesday when officers from the Caledonia Village Police Department conducted a traffic check for a vehicle traveling at 63 mph in a 45 mph zone. The driver was identified by her driver’s license, and two rear passengers who were not wearing seat belts were asked to identify themselves and were then removed from the vehicle, police said.
The front passenger, who police say legally refused to identify himself, recorded a video on his mobile phone which was then posted on social networks with the caption: “A cop caught in planting evidence in 4K”.
It shows that an officer appears to be throwing something in the back seat, before the front passenger says, “I filmed you, brother.” The officer replies: “I filmed you, everything is fine.”
CHICAGO’S NEW CIVIL SURVEILLANCE PANEL STILL HINDS POLICE OFFICERS AMID INCREASED SHOOTING, CRITICISMS INDICATE
“Hey buddy, you just threw that in here,” the passengers say, filming a plastic bag in the back seat.
Caledonian village police chief Christopher Botsch released two body camera footage on Saturday, each taken by separate officers at the scene, adding more context to what happened.
He said the first video shows officers searching one of the rear passengers outside the vehicle and an “empty corner tear,” or the corner of a plastic bag, was found in the passenger pocket.
“The tear in the empty corner contained NO illegal substances; however, this type of packaging is a common method of containing illegal drugs,” Botsch said in a summary of events shared on Facebook.
The search officer handed the tear in the empty corner to another officer, who then passed it on to the officer seen in the cell phone video that circulated online, Botsch said.
“Since there were NO DRUGS in the corner tear, officers threw the empty packaging material into the vehicle,” the chief wrote. “This is what was observed in the video.”
The second body camera clip shows the officer approaching the vehicle, with the front passenger able to be seen recording on his cell phone using his front camera. After the passenger accuses the officer of throwing the plastic bag in the vehicle, the officer is heard saying, “Yes, because it was in his pocket and I don’t want to keep it. on their body cam that they removed it from him. ”
“I’m telling you where it comes from,” insists the officer. “It’s an empty bag at the moment too.”
“While we would discourage officers from throwing things into a citizen’s vehicle, the video clearly shows that the officer is NOT planting evidence or doing anything illegal,” Botsch said in the post shared on the department page. “Moreover, tearing the empty corner is not in itself illegal.”
No arrests were made following the incident, police said. The only arrest / citation resulting from this incident was a speeding ticket issued to the driver.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“As four officers were present at the scene, the body carried camera footage and team camera footage totaled over 6 hours of video,” Botsch said. “We are still reviewing the videos. All videos, in their entirety, will be released in the very near future.”
[ad_2]
Source link