Things may have just gone from bad to worse for the Canton, OH police department and a foul-mouthed police officer who has already been placed on administrative leave, as a second video, this one from 2010, has surfaced courtesy of the Canton Repository.
It is almost certain to re-ignite passions on several Northwest gun rights forums including Northwest Firearms (where the discussion thread was locked) WaGuns.org, Hunting-Washington and GunRightsMedia.com. The discussion has also been locked at TheHighRoad.org, which ignited this discussion, and this one.
This time around, according to the newspaper, officer Daniel Harless pulled over a car on a late-night traffic stop apparently suspecting the drive to be intoxicated. At about 2 ½ minutes into the video, after Harless has been calmly talking to the driver and explaining to him to keep his hands on the car or face getting zapped with a taser, there is a sudden outburst when he spots a gun on the back floor. And then we hear this:
“Don’t f---ing move. Let me see your f---ing hands. I’ll kill every one of you motherf-----s. There’s a g--------d gun in this car. You f----ing move I’ll shoot you in the head.”—Canton Officer Daniel Harless, July 29, 2010
According to the published report, the pistol turned out to be a .25-caliber semi-auto with a round in the chamber. The man spotted with the gun at his feet pleaded guilty to “improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle” this past March. This column is not familiar with that crime, but in Ohio, it is apparently a felony. In Washington, if the individual has a concealed pistol license, it's not even a misdemeanor, though leaving a loaded pistol on the floor of your vehicle is not terribly bright. (In a crash, you've got a loaded gun flying around with considerable centrifugal force.) This column first discussed Harless's situation, and followed that up with reports here, here and here.
None of the people in that vehicle filed a complaint about the confrontation. This despite the fact that at about three minutes into the video, he tells two of the people in the vehicle, which appears to be a pickup truck:
“I’m looking at you, do you understand me? I’ll send you both to the grave.”
And then, apparently directing his attention at one of the individuals, he says:
“Now you, do not f---ing move a muscle or I’ll put you in the grave. That gun’s by you. Now I’m telling you what motherf----r, I’ll shoot you in the face and I’ll go to sleep tonight. When this f---ing seat comes forward, you move and I will shoot you, you motherf-----s. Get the f--- out before I shoot you. Get the f--- out before I shoot you.”
Harless can be heard talking one of the rear seat passengers, who insists the gun is not his. The officer tells him “You’re a god-----d liar. Stupid people.”
A few moments later, Harless is telling the driver that the gun is in his vehicle and that’s constructive possession. The cop also tells the man he is on his way to buy dope and that he is “so full of s---.” He accuses the man of ‘driving around buying dope, and that makes me mad.”
Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm is quoted by CantonRep.com, explaining that in this second video from a year ago, finding a gun in the car made it “a much more dangerous situation to the officers and the officers would have to react in a much more professionally forceful and focused way.”
Presumably in Ohio, that involves repeated use of the “F” word interspersed with threats to shoot people and put them in their graves.
Generally speaking, police officers who encounter a gun need to let the suspect know that they view it as a life and death situation, that they are taking control and that they will do what is necessary to make sure the gun isn’t used against them, other officers or bystanders, McKimm said.—CantonRep.com
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