SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Don: When a badge and gun must be taken away
Aug 30, 2017, 9:53 AM
King County Sheriff John Urquhart suspended a deputy after he pulled a gun on a motorcyclist and was caught on video. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
By now you have seen this viral video of a King County sheriff’s detective pulling a gun on a motorcyclist. If not, you can view it here.
You have likely seen the same thing on the road that this detective saw — it looks like a guy on a fast motorcycle, going fast, and filming it to possibly share on line with his friends later.
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Some motorcyclists run these cameras for their own protection. In any event, he looked to be going too fast and a detective decided to pull him over.
I get it. When these bikes come screaming by, it scares the heck out of us. In general, they are so fast, there is nothing you or the police can do about it. Did you see the 200 plus riders take over city streets this past weekend in Seattle? I don’t believe there was one arrest. How are the police going to catch them? They are not.
Well this particular guy got caught, and then he got a gun pulled on him by a detective who did not identify himself. A lot of people are asking themselves if this is proper police procedure?
I turned to three officer’s I know that work for different agencies in the region. After watching the video they said “that guy shouldn’t be a cop,” and ” that is not the training I received,” and “that is a bully with a badge and a gun.”
One officer even told me that incidents like this make it much harder for him be a public servant.
I also went to the King County Sheriff’s website to look at their guiding principles. Here is three that stood out to me:
- “We are respectful, effective, and humble”: I didn’t see a lot of humility in this video when the detective finally announced “I am the police” as the rider wanted to know why he had a gun pulled on him.
- “We seize the opportunity to treat people the right way”: In most departments now, you have to fill out a report when you pull your gun for any reason. I wonder if this detective was planning on doing that? This detective chose to intimidate, harass, and bully the rider rather than treat him with respect and dignity. It makes me wonder how many times he has pulled his gun out before when it wasn’t appropriate.
- “The abuse of authority is not tolerated”: And in this case it wasn’t. Sheriff John Urquhart immediately placed the detective on leave after a local TV station showed him the video tape.
I understand everybody has a bad day, but when you swear an oath to be a public servant for the rest of us, and we hand you a badge and a gun, and entrust you with our lives, this incident went way beyond having a bad day.
I know there are two sides to every story and this detective will get to share his, but that badge and gun need to be handed to someone else who won’t abuse the privilege.
