Lenior City traffic stop

[gnmwilliams]

A friend of mine sent me this video of a traffic stop in Lenior City. I've already formed my own opinions, but wanted to share this with everyone else for their input. https://youtu.be/SMbJsXLP96g Edited August 8, 2015 by gnmwilliams

[RED333]

Could not make out or hear the audio, how did the end turn out?

[chances R]

IMO....Rude, especially with the number of legal carriers.

[Ugly]

It does seem odd that he would just snatch the pistol. Personally I think he should have simply said he would like to disarm the rider and gone from there.

[BrasilNuts]

Not cool.

In the still shot it the pistol appears to be a Glock. The pistol goes behind the officers back and his empty hand returns. Did the just cram a Glock in his back pocket without clearing it?

Not cool at all.

At that point I would have ceased conversing with that officer and requested to see his shift supervisor.

If you'll feel safer by disarming me, fine, but do it like you have the common sense your job requires.

Edit to add: Was this LCPD or LCSO? Edited August 8, 2015 by BrasilNuts

[EssOne]

Deleted by EssOne

Edited August 8, 2015 by EssOne

[EssOne]

It does seem odd that he would just snatch the pistol. Personally I think he should have simply said he would like to disarm the rider and gone from there.

 

No, Ugly, if he was going to get the weapon he wouldn't want to telegraph his move in the event the rider wanted to resist - remember he stopped the rider because he saw him stow a gun when coming out of a store and the license plate was obscured. Snatching the gun is consistent with that. People with obscured license plates do have a nasty habit of pulling armed robberies on stores, and it is not generally considered wise for an officer to politely ask an armed robber for his gun.  My take is that he was trying to conduct a cursory, low key investigation. If I had made that stop myself for the reasons the officer gave, I'm afraid the rider would have been treated to a lot more flashing lights, sirens, and guns, so I think maybe he ought to be happy with what he got. 

Edited August 8, 2015 by EssOne

[toby1304]

I wonder too if he did see him stowing the gun there may be the case of brandishing a weapon.

[BrasilNuts]

Just to be clear, the rider didn't "stow a gun" he was OCing.

The officer says "...I just seen you walking out of Weigles with a gun on your side and a helmet on..."

[blewbayou]

Nothing about that was cool. I may not be an officer, but nothing about that video shows me that the rider was a threat of any sort. As a rider, I keep my gun in my jacket pocket rather than on my waist belt so for me he would have never seen my gun. However, if that was me I would have been filing a complaint. I would also like to see where the plate was...I think that was a likely excuse because he saw a gun.

[bersaguy]

It will be hard to make a decision on the video itself without seeing the bike tags to actually see if they were obscured as the police stated to know if it was a true clear traffic stop. As far as what the officer did, I think he actually took the gun out of fear because when questioned about why he took the weapon when the officer put his hands together as he began explaining why he took it, that is a sign of being nervous. That tells me that the police officer is somewhat insecure..............jmho

[Erik88]

The only thing that bothered me was that the officer didn't even clear the  gun before sticking it in his back pocket which could have easily ended badly.

 

My friend works for LCPD so I'm going to send it to him and ask what he thinks. And yes, this was Lenoir City PD, not Loudon County.

[DaveTN]

The law allows him to carry a gun and they law allows the Officer to take it. By the time he “became a threat” the Officer (or anyone else) could be dead. I couldn’t hear the audio very well but it appeared the Officer was courteous; wasn’t he?

The only mistake I saw the Officer make was putting that gun in his back pocket. If he was overreacting he would have put him on the ground at gun point.

[Ugly]

No, Ugly, if he was going to get the weapon he wouldn't want to telegraph his move in the event the rider wanted to resist - remember he stopped the rider because he saw him stow a gun when coming out of a store and the license plate was obscured. Snatching the gun is consistent with that. People with obscured license plates do have a nasty habit of pulling armed robberies on stores, and it is not generally considered wise for an officer to politely ask an armed robber for his gun. My take is that he was trying to conduct a cursory, low key investigation. If I had made that stop myself for the reasons the officer gave, I'm afraid the rider would have been treated to a lot more flashing lights, sirens, and guns, so I think maybe he ought to be happy with what he got.

It didn't seem to me that he was being pulled over as a suspect for a robbery. If so I'm with you, (if I were the law) lights siren and weapon.

I never heard that about tucked license plates and if the officer suspected that it was an actual robbery I would have expected more aggressive interaction.

I haven't been pulled over yet but if and when I am I would notify that I am licensed and armed knowing that I could be disarmed, I wouldn't expect the officer to snatch it, I would expect if he were actually worried he would have me raise my hands and retrieve my pistol.

Of course I'm not in law enforcement or a thug, I treat others as I would expect to be treated. My lack of interaction with low life scumbags gives me a bit of a sheltered point of view.

[EssOne]

Just to be clear, the rider didn't "stow a gun" he was OCing.

The officer says "...I just seen you walking out of Weigles with a gun on your side and a helmet on..."

 

Yes, you're right. I misunderstood that aspect and thought he had stowed the gun.

 

It didn't seem to me that he was being pulled over as a suspect for a robbery. If so I'm with you, (if I were the law) lights siren and weapon.

I never heard that about tucked license plates and if the officer suspected that it was an actual robbery I would have expected more aggressive interaction.

I haven't been pulled over yet but if and when I am I would notify that I am licensed and armed knowing that I could be disarmed, I wouldn't expect the officer to snatch it, I would expect if he were actually worried he would have me raise my hands and retrieve my pistol.

Of course I'm not in law enforcement or a thug, I treat others as I would expect to be treated. My lack of interaction with low life scumbags gives me a bit of a sheltered point of view.

 

The officer's response bothers me too, Ugly. I can't figure why the low key response if he thought he was dealing with a felony, and that's why I said earlier that I would have gone into full blown felony stop procedures. So there has to be something else besides the armed robbery aspect. I think the officer is prolly OK on PC for the stop in that I too would have been suspicious if I saw an armed man coming out of a store with a full, face-covering helmet on and get on a motorcycle with an obscured plate, but then if that's the case, why the low key response? As far as the snatching aspect, most officers I know of who deal with legal carriers in non-threatening misdemeanor situations simply ask for the gun if they want to disarm the person, they don't snatch it. And they do the lights, siren, guns, handcuff thing if they think they're dealing with a robbery or other felony . So I guess I have to admit I'm as stumped as everybody else and I'm not sure I can figure this one out without some more information.

Edited August 8, 2015 by EssOne

[McGarrett]

Glad this went smoothly. There are several different outcomes of grabbing for someone's carry gun that come to mind and none of them turn out good. Officer or not I don't think it's wise to go grabbing for a loaded weapon during what appears to be a routine traffic stop.

 

If he had just robbed the Weigels or committed some crime he was really taking his time leaving, putting on gloves, getting things situated in his bag, etc. and none other other customers were alarmed or running around. From the video I fail to see any threatening behavior from the motorcycle rider and the tag thing seems like a joke.

 

Had this been an actual robbery by a motorcycle rider the robber would have been long gone by the time this officer even got his blue lights turned on. 

 

Seems like the officer could have just pulled up and asked to see id and hcp before he even got on the bike instead of watching him the whole time and them pulling him over as he leaves. Just my 2 cents.

Edited August 8, 2015 by McGarrett

[Ugly]

One has to wonder if the officer is walking on eggshells because of the political anti cop movement goin on in this day of hope and change.

If so, he's putting himself in harms way and that's a shame. Edited August 8, 2015 by Ugly

[peejman]

That rider reacted a lot more calmly than I would have to having my gun snatched like that. But then, I don't open carry or have my license plate mounted illegally.

[EssOne]

I'd like to know why the actual "snatch" portion of the video was cut out. That really bothers me.

[Tobashadow]

And again im frustrated with the ignorant idiots calling it a CCW, it is NOT a CCW it is a HCP. a CCW is a CONCEALED carry license, which is not what Tennessee has and confuses people that we must carry concealed like other states have to, and can cause problems with uneducated people. Edited August 11, 2015 by Tobashadow

[Oh Shoot]

I'd like to know why the actual "snatch" portion of the video was cut out. That really bothers me.

 

With a helmet cam, couldn't have filmed it unless knew it was coming and turned his head back around just as it was happening --  was still sitting on bike taking his gloves off when it happened, and turned around just after the snatch, looks like to me.

 

- OS

Edited August 8, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[EssOne]

With a helmet cam, couldn't have filmed it unless knew it was coming and turned his head back around just as it was happening --  was still sitting on bike taking his gloves off when it happened, and turned around just after the snatch, looks like to me.
 
- OS

Yes, I figured the same. But wasn't the audio disrupted too?

[Oh Shoot]

Yes, I figured the same. But wasn't the audio disrupted too?

 

Near as I can tell, it's all there, just the freeze frame with the caption paused everything abruptly?

 

- OS

Edited August 8, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[EssOne]

OK, Richard Nixon's missing 18 minutes made me forever suspicious. :rofl:  Boy, guess I really dated m'self on that one, didn't I?

[Just2Honor]

Concern could have been heightened by his taking nearly 30 seconds to stop with no traffic. Blue lights comment at 1:17 and came to a stop at 1:45. Never saw any traffic on the roads--even made two turns.