Seems this isn’t the first time this cop lost his cool. Follow the link, as the video is not embeddable. This suspect had an illegal gun, but this guy still really needs to find another line of work. Police work is not something he’s cut out for.
“Don’t (expletive) move. Let me see your (expletive) hands,†Harless shouted. “I’ll kill every one of you (expletive). There’s a (expletive) gun in this car. You (expletive) move, I’ll shoot you in the head.â€
Harless also threatened to send the suspects “to the grave†if they moved, adding, “I will shoot you in the face and I’ll go to sleep tonight.â€
If this officer ever does have to shoot someone, even if it’s legitimately self-defense, the statements appearing in these videos are going to greatly complicate his life unless it’s a cut-and-dry clean shoot, which is not often the case.
I also suggest this guy isn’t too good about controlling the situation. In what universe does a guy have a gun in a car illegally, and you don’t pull him out of the car and cuff him as soon as you realize it? Wouldn’t you at least want to remove the gun? Does he maybe want the suspect to pick up the gun, so he has an excuse? You really have to wonder.
I do not agree with how this Police Officer reacted, but as someone who has in the military and in combat, I would have said some of the same things except for the part that I will sleep good tonight. I would have told them to get out and and face down on the ground. But that is also with a couple of M249’s and a few M4’s.
I understand the profanity, but barking orders (ie. Stop moving or I will shoot) and death threats (I will kill you and sleep like a baby) are very different. Isnt the point of their training to be able to handle stressful situations without losing control or their wits.
Yeah, I’m real curious why he feels the need to make threats of death and never secure people. He did the same thing in two stops. Pattern developing.
What’s an illegal gun? Did it not have serial numbers? Perhaps it’s better phrased as am unlawfully possessed gun. Just a nit pick. The cop needs to rethink his vocabulary.
If this guy isn’t fired, and he legitimately shoots someone in the future, the city is boned. I can just about guarantee you that every attorney in Ohio has these two videos saved to some form of long term storage, just in case.
Besides, every arrest and traffic stop he ever makes (or ever has made) is going to be tainted now.
All that aside, the similarities between his threats in both incidents are chilling. He wants to kill someone, all he needs is something he thinks is an excuse that will keep him from losing his job. He needs to be fired and blacklisted by every law enforcement agency in the nation.
He needs to be fired and blacklisted by every law enforcement agency in the nation.
No, he needs to be fired, locked up and place in serious anger management counseling, and THEN blacklisted from any job involving any authority at all. And he sure as he’ll better lose his pension.
Matt – I handled enemy prisoners of war and never made these kinds of silly threats. Excess profanity and threats just make a stressful situation worse and possibly lead to confusion and escalation – which has been suggested might be what this idiot wants.
My uniform, professional attitude, and M16 were always sufficient to get the necessary cooperation. Any Marine carrying on like this with a prisoner would have a counseling statement in his records at the minimum.
@ Countertop: I can’t disagree with any of that.
This begs the question, are his superiors as stupid as he is?
If they aren’t then why is he still employed?
Dad spent a lot of time in LE, and one of the things he mentioned was that you could prevent a lot of fights and unpleasantness by staying calm and talking someone into doing what was needed.
This clown obviously was trained and nurtured in the “Screw everybody else, YOU have the BADGE!” school.
Officer A$$HOLE needs to be fired and kept from any law enforcement work. Any officer or military personal that fears others so much that such behavior as shown or mentioned in the comments needs to find a new line of work.
I get more than a little offended as a taxpayer when one of my Public Servants gets upity and decides to order me around. I believe that appropriate term is use of “appropriate force”. A citizen may be deaf or have a physical disability that makes lying face down in broken glass and garbage not a speedy affair. Most people are pretty compliant when they are staring down the barrel of a firearm.
The signs of over aggression alone indicate that this Public Servant is mismatched with the job of enforcing the Law and keeping the Peace.
A BTW to the military commentators, there is a big difference between the Law that permits the military to bust doors overseas and the Law that provides police arrest powers, and that is why Law enforcement usually enforces the Law and has arrest powers. The “…Protect the Constitution against enemies both foreign and domestic…” does NOT mean citizens are the enemy even when they are breaking a non-Federal Law.
I wonder what he’s like off duty, out of uniform…?
With this kind of pattern; including failure to follow basic procedures (often designed to increase officer safety), threats, swearing and screaming…Is it possible that he’s got a real mental-illness?
Does stress cause him to fly off like this? Is it bad enough that he’ll eventually follow through on his threats?
I’m not trying to excuse his behavior…no.
In fact, I think he should be prosecuted. If convicted, he should be a prohibited person.
And he should, without question, be placed in either a maximum security prison or a maximum security mental hospital for rehabilitation/treatment.
He should not, under any circumstances, be allowed to operate any on-the-job equipment more dangerous than a telephone (maybe mandatory speakerphone?).