Video of Canton police department, illegally searching a car and offering murder threats to persons in handcuffs on camera for legally carrying a firearm. The illegal search of the vehicle starts just after the 3:00 minute mark and the murder threats come right after the 13:00 minute mark.Reposted from Ohioan’s for concealed carry.
Ohio Law & PoliticsWritten by OFCC NewsWednesday, 20 July 2011 20:53
UPDATE 7/22/2011: Canton Police announced Thursday that the officer was relieved of all duties in June following an internal investigation complaint filed in this matter. (He is on A Paid vacation according to the article–copblock) The local Canton Repository has done some additional investigatory work into the officers and an excellent analysis of the video / audio we posted. The video and story has gone both viral and national crossing over to websites not typically affiliated with the pro-gun movement. Shortly after 7:00pm Thursday our website could no longer handle the volume of visitors we were receiving. We promptly quadrupled the resources behind OhioCCW.org in light of the popularity of this story.
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Shortly after HB12 became law in 2004, Ohioans for Concealed Carry began to hear horror stories about the way law enforcement had reacted during traffic stops. Motorcyclists were told to conceal their guns instead of carrying them openly (motorcycle open-carry then was required by law). Computers in some police departments generated a felony warrant indicator when processing a license plate linked to a Concealed Handgun License. This caused multiple police vehicles to converge on a licensee in order to perform a felony traffic stop.
Those days, for the most part, are behind us. They’ve been replaced with occasional stories of rogue cops who have abused the concealed carry law in one way or another. In 2006, Daniel Sayers was filling his gas tank and washing his windows at a gas station when someone called the police to report a “man with a gun” leaving the station. After minutes of dash camera footage showing a police cruiser hurtling through side streets and breakneck speeds, we watched as Sayers promptly pulled over thinking the cruiser was trying to pass him. Within seconds Sayers had an AR-15 pointed at him, accompanied by officers ordering him out of the car, despite a malfunction in his car windows and doors.
Police continually screamed orders at him. Sayers was eventually pulled from the car, handcuffed, and placed in the back of the cruiser. Later, he was charged with failure to inform police that he was armed and had a concealed handgun license. The fact is, Sayers was unable to notify.
The same events played out in Beachwood, Ohio when OFCC member Bryan Ledford was approached by an officer pointing a taser at him and ordering him to exit his vehicle. Every attempt Ledford made to communicate with the officer was met with a refusal to acknowledge Ledford’s attempts to inform the officers of his handgun license. In Ledford’s case, officers spent 30 minutes rummaging through his vehicle, without a warrant, looking for something with which to charge him, until it finally hit them: Charge him with failure to inform. They went to court insisting that 53 seconds had transpired between the time they engaged Ledford and the time he informed them, and that somehow this time frame justified arresting Ledford, putting him into jail, and charging him with a misdemeanor.
But none of this compares to the atrocity that took place on June 8, 2011 to a man named William who had obtained his concealed handgun license approximately one month earlier. Early that Wednesday morning, William pulled his car to the side of the road to let out two passengers, but only the female occupant managed to exit before the police pulled up and began screaming at all three parties. “Stay in that car, I’m not going to mess around,” screamed one of the officers at the two people attempting to exit the vehicle. The driver and concealed handgun licensee, William, remained seated in his vehicle when an officer entered the rear of the vehicle.
William stated, “I have a concealed carry, and…” when he was abruptly told to shut up. Dash camera video footage shows the driver turning his head, and his voice can be heard, but the words are inaudible. A few minutes passed while the officer continued to berate the two passengers. He proceeded to the driver’s side and tries to open the door but is delayed by a seat belt. …people like you don’t deserve to @#$%#$ move throughout public. Period!… William states “I have a conceal…” and the officer demands that he better tell the truth or else! This interruption causes William to “tell the truth” and his attempt to notify is interrupted. William exited the vehicle with his driver’s license in the same hand as his concealed handgun license. He held it up for the officer to see, and the officer said, “Why are you having that?” This gave William the opportunity to say, “I have a CCW, and…” The officer then said, “Do you have a gun?” William answered yes, causing the officer to grab it from William’s waist.
At this point, William was handcuffed and put into the police cruiser. The officer then started to berate William, stating: “I should blast you in the mouth right now … I’m close to caving in your head.” and “you’re just a stupid human being!”
The remainder of the threats, including executing the licensee for “being stupid” must be seen in the video to be believed