Video Shows Florida Cop Aiming Gun At Black Men Who Won’t Stop Filming
A Florida police chief is defending the actions of an officer pointing his gun at a car full of black men that happened in February 2013 in Boynton Beach.
Click here for reuse options!As one officer pulls one of the young men out of the car and pins him to the ground, another pulls up, draws his weapon, and approaches the vehicle. “I’ll fuckin’, I’ll put a round in your ass so quick,” he says.
Boynton Beach police chief Jeffrey Katz doesn’t believe the incident in the video…rises to the level of misconduct…
“No gotcha moment exists here…which is why I suspect nobody ever came forward to make a complaint about this,” Katz wrote on YouTube, “Rest assured, absent a complaint we still looked into this incident and found the officers’ actions to be appropriate and justifiable given the totality of the circumstances.”
If you disagree with him, he feels you’re just using the video to “stoke racial tension and fear.”…
As far as the recording, Katz says it “escalated” the situation, and was just an attempt to capture that “gotcha” moment, not to protect themselves from armed cops. As we’ve been reminded repeatedly since protests started in Ferguson, Mo., filming interactions with police officers is legal in all 50 states.
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Cheston Catalano
Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.
89 responses to Video Shows Florida Cop Aiming Gun At Black Men Who Won’t Stop Filming
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greenfloyd August 28th, 2014 at 02:52
Almost 2 years on and there have been no law suits or even a single complaint filed!? Of course this is pre-Mike Brown/Ferguson, MO. IMHO, this case should be revisited and a lawsuit filed, a request for an FBI Civil Rights investigation.
From the comfort of my armchair there appears to be serious misconduct by these 2 cops. The first cop was out of bounds and I think he knew it, yet still persisted in needlessly escalating an already tense situation. It’s hard to believe a trained law enforcement officer would so causally approach four “home invader” suspects in a car. If indeed that’s what he was thinking. I seriously doubt it was, he let it become personal.
The second cop is not only out of bounds he’s out of this world. He has no idea what’s actually going on, he’s in robo-cop mode. It’s just a wonder he did not kill or rape someone with that “rod” of his! Where is he now?
trees August 28th, 2014 at 04:27
I’ve watched this video a few times now, what I see is four people in a car who are refusing to cooperate with the cop/s. The cop at first is friendly and asking them who they are and where they live, they refuse to provide ID when asked. I’m sorry, but if you want to find out who’s in charge when coming into contact with the police, a really good way to do so is to refuse to comply when asked for your drivers license and to start calling the cop names. The police are going to take control of the situation, so challenging them for control and taunting them is really pretty stupid. When the driver continues to challenge the authority of the first officer he is pulled from the vehicle and placed face down. The second cop, seeing the actions of the first cop, comes in ready for action and taking no prisoners. A perpetrator can gain the upper hand in a blur of motion, you let your guard down, you fail to secure the situation and all hell can and will break loose. With all due respect, there are many officers who have lost their lives because they failed to control the situation. The default position is to consider the suspects as armed, and yes, if you are being investigated by the police you are a suspect. Want to relieve the tension? Want to have the officers relax and treat you with respect? Answer the questions and provide the license they asked for.
granpa.usthai August 28th, 2014 at 05:27
well ARMED BLACK unregulated militias are the answer, trees, just like out in Nevada. Now, you take the demand for every ones ID because the Officer was angry about being caught on camera. If there had been about 1000 + missing Military armaments pointing in his direction, he wouldn’t have cared anymore about who they were than they did the heavily ARMED WHITE unregulated militias in Nevada. The Officer who came running up to the car with his weapon drawn would have happily secured his firearm.. No one would have been smacked up side the head, nobody would have been thrown to the ground. Well ARMED BLACK unregulated militia is the key, then the black folks would be treated with just as much respect as the white folks .It’s bound to happen – have you helped to arm your local Black unregulated militia yet?
greenfloyd August 28th, 2014 at 06:03
Wait a minute, cops know “home invaders” are usually not a charming bunch, often violent and well armed. So we either have a very stupid cop or more likely, an attempt to cover-up a bogus stop which led to the use of force on four black men, for no apparent reason. Other than they did not display the proper amount of “fear.” Meanwhile, hello? home invaders out there! hello?
trees August 28th, 2014 at 06:43
I tend to agree with you on the juvenile nature and relatively harmless appearance of the youths in the video. Clearly the cop feels fairly safe, as he hasn’t drawn his weapon and is circling the car. I agree, but the rub is this, when he asks for the drivers license of the vehicle’s operator the response is, “why”? Wrong answer, and then he’s met with,
“Sir I’m recording your ass, what the f**k you gonna do, bitch?”
Now, I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure a black cop reacts in a similar fashion. I mean, what’s the cop going to do? Admit that he’s the kids bitch and wish him a good day? When a cop asks for a driver’s license you can be pretty damn sure you better have one and surrender it for inspection. Don’t think race was a factor here for the officers, I do think race was a factor for those occupants in the car, though….
greenfloyd August 28th, 2014 at 07:25
I don’t know, but I don’t think you treat a car load of “home invader” suspects like an ordinary traffic stop. You get back-up, lots of back-up, then from a distance you order the guys out of the car, nice and easy, one by one, then sort out all the other stuff…you have to treat them as armed and dangerous. Idle speculation on my part, the first cop may have pulled them over for the reason stated, yet quickly learned these were not the guys and instead of getting back to finding the real criminals decided to teach these rude boys a lesson. Mind you that’s just my speculation. Only the cop himself knows for sure.
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org August 28th, 2014 at 02:52
Almost 2 years on and there have been no law suits or even a single complaint filed!? Of course this is pre-Mike Brown/Ferguson, MO. IMHO, this case should be revisited and a lawsuit filed, a request for an FBI Civil Rights investigation.
From the comfort of my armchair there appears to be serious misconduct by these 2 cops. The first cop was out of bounds and I think he knew it, yet still persisted in needlessly escalating an already tense situation. It’s hard to believe a trained law enforcement officer would so causally approach four “home invader” suspects in a car. If indeed that’s what he was thinking. I seriously doubt it was, he let it become personal.
The second cop is not only out of bounds he’s out of this world. He has no idea what’s actually going on, he’s in robo-cop mode. It’s just a wonder he did not kill or rape someone with that “rod” of his! Where is he now?
trees August 28th, 2014 at 04:27
I’ve watched this video a few times now, what I see is four people in a car who are refusing to cooperate with the cop/s. The cop at first is relatively friendly and respectful and asking them who they are and where they live. They refuse to provide ID when asked. “Sir I’m recording your ass, what the f**k you gonna do, bitch?” I’m sorry, but if you want to find out who’s in charge when coming into contact with the police, a really good way to do so is to refuse to comply when asked for your drivers license and to start calling the cop names. The police are going to take control of the situation, so challenging them for control and taunting them is really pretty stupid. When the driver continues to challenge the authority of the first officer he is pulled from the vehicle and placed face down, the officer secures his suspect. Note that he’s not beating him into submission, he’s restraining and securing him. The second cop, seeing the actions of the first cop, comes in ready for action and taking no prisoners. A perpetrator can gain the upper hand in a blur of motion, you let your guard down, you fail to secure the situation and all hell can and will break loose. With all due respect, there are many officers who have lost their lives because they failed to control the situation. The default position is to consider the suspects as armed, and yes, if you are being investigated by the police you are a suspect. Want to relieve the tension? Want to have the officers relax and treat you with respect? Answer the questions and provide the license they asked for.
granpa.usthai August 28th, 2014 at 05:27
well ARMED BLACK unregulated militias are the answer, trees, just like out in Nevada. Now, you take the demand for every ones ID because the Officer was angry about being caught on camera. If there had been about 1000 + missing Military armaments pointing in his direction, he wouldn’t have cared anymore about who they were than they did the heavily ARMED WHITE unregulated militias in Nevada. The Officer who came running up to the car with his weapon drawn would have happily secured his firearm.. No one would have been smacked up side the head, nobody would have been thrown to the ground. Well ARMED BLACK unregulated militia is the key, then the black folks would be treated with just as much respect as the white folks .It’s bound to happen – have you helped to arm your local Black unregulated militia yet?
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org August 28th, 2014 at 06:03
Wait a minute, cops know “home invaders” are usually not a charming bunch, often violent and well armed. So we either have a very stupid cop or more likely, an attempt to cover-up a bogus stop which led to the use of force on four black men, for no apparent reason. Other than they did not display the proper amount of “fear.” Meanwhile, hello? home invaders out there! hello?
trees August 28th, 2014 at 06:43
I tend to agree with you on the juvenile nature and relatively harmless appearance of the youths in the video. Clearly the cop feels fairly safe, as he hasn’t drawn his weapon and is circling the car. I agree, but the rub is this, when he asks for the drivers license of the vehicle’s operator the response is, “why”? Wrong answer, and then he’s met with,
“Sir I’m recording your ass, what the f**k you gonna do, bitch?”
Now, I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure a black cop reacts in a similar fashion. I mean, what’s the cop going to do? Admit that he’s the kids bitch and wish him a good day? You think a cop is going to let you drive off without checking your license after he’s asked for it and you tell him to kiss your ass? When a cop asks for a driver’s license you can be pretty damn sure you better have one and surrender it for inspection. Don’t think race was a factor here for the officers, I do think race was a factor for those occupants in the car, though….
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org August 28th, 2014 at 07:25
I don’t know, but I don’t think you treat a car load of “home invader” suspects like an ordinary traffic stop. You get back-up, lots of back-up, then from a distance you order the guys out of the car, nice and easy, one by one, then sort out all the other stuff…you have to treat them as armed and dangerous. Idle speculation on my part, the first cop may have pulled them over for the reason stated, yet quickly learned these were not the guys and instead of getting back to finding the real criminals decided to teach these rude boys a lesson. Mind you that’s just my speculation. Only the cop himself knows for sure.
fahvel August 28th, 2014 at 03:00
perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
trees August 28th, 2014 at 05:10
Really? Who’s in control? You, or the cops? Who’s the authority, you? Want to be treated with respect? Then afford them respect. You wanna kiss the concrete? Act like an ahole, don’t be surprised when you get more than you bargained for…..Your right to be treated respectfully went out the window when you acted disrespectfully and refused to cooperate. Challenge them for control, tell em they ain’t sh*t and nobody tells you nothin, let me know how that works out for you.
Carla Akins August 28th, 2014 at 05:35
Here in the US, we still have the presumption of innocence (unless you’re black) and law enforcement still has to have “cause”. Filming police actions is NOT illegal and they are hired to protect public safety and uphold the law, they are also expected to be able to control their temper.
The very second you excuse abuse of authority and demand total compliance – you have given in to a totalitarian regime and we’ve all lost the rights afforded us by the Constitution.
trees August 28th, 2014 at 07:14
I agree, I think what set the officer off was the refusal to exit the vehicle, refusing to provide a driver’s license, telling him to eff off bitch, and then the driver sticking something out the window while they all sit in the car mocking him. I think if you ask for trouble they’ll give it to you…..
raincheck August 28th, 2014 at 05:58
The jails *are* packed…
lamenting over mass stupidity August 28th, 2014 at 10:05
Yup
bnapy August 28th, 2014 at 13:26
I’ve read all the comments below, and if you can’t see the injustice done to these young men you’re a damn fool. I watched the video three times…if your LISTENING its clear they were initially cooperating with the officer. He tells the officer he just spoke with the police and they let him go. When asked for his identification, the driver asks a simple question, “Why”. The officer responds with, “Because your driving the car”…
So your doing nothing wrong, you get pulled over and are questioned a second time by the police. You try to explain that you just went through this… Your asked a question (Where do you live?), and answer that question. Then are asked for your ID, and you ask “Why”. The officer tells you, “Because your driving the car”. Then says, “I’ll need ID from everyone”. Keep all this in mind..
I currently live in NC, and maybe they do things differently up here. When I’m pulled over the first thing the officer states is, “I’ve pulled you over for blah blah blah, can i please have your license and registration”. I grew up all over the east coast, and this has been my normal experience. Also, only in rare instances have the passengers in my vehicle been asked for identification.
If I were treated like this, based on my past experiences. I’d verbally snap, and give them a piece of my mind. The police have no right to keep you in the dark about what they are doing, if your a suspect it needs to be CLEARLY STATED. So you can easily show/prove your innocents, and be allowed to move on with your business.
The police in this video, were overly aggressive before the verbal berating began. By not answering a simple question like “Why [do you need my ID]” it shows what they thought about the young men in that car.
Mind you, I doubt these officers are conscious racist…but there is a fear of young black men in america that attacks the subconscious of other [so called] “races” in America including many blacks. We call it a “stereotype”, when its done by law enforcement its called profiling. These men were a victim of profiling and treated improperly!
I honestly think the officer could have avoided the entire situation if he was upfront with those men. Put yourself in their shoes, and wonder how you would act if this happened to you.
Maybe I’m ignorant for thinking these men had to film their encounter with the police, because they knew what was going to happen. Maybe I’m ignorant, for thinking my questions should be answered. Maybe I’m ignorant for thinking you have to show respect to get it.
This is an example of some MFn BS.
bnapy August 28th, 2014 at 13:26
I’ve read all the comments below, and if you can’t see the injustice done to these young men you’re a damn fool. I watched the video three times…if your LISTENING its clear they were initially cooperating with the officer. He tells the officer he just spoke with the police and they let him go. When asked for his identification, the driver asks a simple question, “Why”. The officer responds with, “Because your driving the car”…
So your doing nothing wrong, you get pulled over and are questioned a second time by the police. You try to explain that you just went through this… Your asked a question (Where do you live?), and answer that question. Then are asked for your ID, and you ask “Why”. The officer tells you, “Because your driving the car”. Then says, “I’ll need ID from everyone”. Keep all this in mind..
I currently live in NC, and maybe they do things differently up here. When I’m pulled over the first thing the officer states is, “I’ve pulled you over for blah blah blah, can i please have your license and registration”. I grew up all over the east coast, and this has been my normal experience. Also, only in rare instances have the passengers in my vehicle been asked for identification.
If I were treated like this, based on my past experiences. I’d verbally snap, and give them a piece of my mind. The police have no right to keep you in the dark about what they are doing, if your a suspect it needs to be CLEARLY STATED. So you can easily show/prove your innocents, and be allowed to move on with your business.
The police in this video, were overly aggressive before the verbal berating began. By not answering a simple question like “Why [do you need my ID]” it shows what they thought about the young men in that car.
Mind you, I doubt these officers are conscious racist…but there is a fear of young black men in America that attacks the subconscious of other [so called] “races” including many blacks. We call it a “stereotype”, when its done by law enforcement its called profiling. These men were a victim of profiling and treated improperly!
I honestly think the officer could have avoided the entire situation if he was upfront with those men. Put yourself in their shoes, and wonder how you would act if this happened to you.
Maybe I’m ignorant for thinking these men had to film their encounter with the police, because they knew what was going to happen. Maybe I’m ignorant, for thinking my questions should be answered. Maybe I’m ignorant for thinking you have to show respect to get it.
This is an example of some MFn BS.
Jody Ellis August 28th, 2014 at 14:28
These Cops are Not Brave or Mature Enough to have a Badge or Gun! I wouldn’t allow them a Rubber-band & a Stick. Disgraceful Public Servants You’re Fired!
Jody Ellis August 28th, 2014 at 14:28
These Cops are Not Brave or Mature Enough to have a Badge or Gun! I wouldn’t allow them a Rubber-band & a Stick. Disgraceful Public Servants You’re Fired!
VegasJessie August 30th, 2014 at 16:57
I think the rate of insanely abusive cops is exponentially increasing. What the hell is going on in this country?
VegasJessie August 30th, 2014 at 16:57
I think the rate of insanely abusive cops is exponentially increasing. What the hell is going on in this country?