December 20, 2020, 7:55 am
Bodycams may not do much good if police officers just shut them off when they’re planning to engage in questionable behavior, but sometimes, apparently, they simply forget they’re on at all.
Advertisement
Hide
A police officer in Boston was caught on camera seemingly bragging about running down Black Lives Matter protestors with his car, while speaking to another officer whose camera had turned on “automatically.”
Advertisement
Hide
“I f—king drove down Tremont. There was an unmarked state police cruiser they were all f—king around,” the sergeant says. “So I overcommit. I got to f—king Tremont Park and I was in the middle of… so then, I had a f—ker keep coming. I was f—king hitting people with the car. Did you hear me?”
The officer wearing the camera turns and walks away to cut the sergeant off. He turns back around a couple seconds later, saying, “This is on,” presumably in reference to the camera.
The sergeant who confessed to hitting protestors with his car immediately backtracks, stuttering before claiming: “I didn’t hit anybody. Just driving.” But his demeanor has fully changed in those few seconds, gone from enthusiastic and chipper while describing hitting protestors to suddenly quiet and sullen.
“This thing just f—king went on automatically,” the recording officer says before the clip ends.
Advertisement
Hide
The footage is part of an ongoing investigation by attorney Carl Williams and his team of volunteers, who have been combing through hours and hours of bodycam videos taken during a Black Lives Matter protest in Boston the night of May 31.
According to The Appeal, Williams was looking for evidence to exonerate some of his clients, protestors who were arrested on that date, but instead wound up finding an alarming number of incidents showing Boston police finding glee in using unnecessary force against protestors who were not resisting or attacking officers themselves.
“This is not law enforcement,” Williams said. “That’s not what they’re doing right there in the streets, ganging up on people using weaponry. And they’re enjoying it.”
Advertisement
Hide
Reviewing the footage also turned up a number of incidents like this one, where officers didn’t realize bodycams were on.
The footage has obviously sparked an outcry on social media, with people demanding the officers involved be held accountable, and further measures be taken to ensure this kind of thing actually stops happening.
It’s the tampering with evidence for me
— Ashawn Dabney-Small
(@Ashawn4Boston) December 19, 2020
Advertisement
Hide
You can hear the recorded cop telling the other guy “hey, this thing goes on automatically…”
— DonnieDarko’s Rabbit ©
(@ddarko1072) December 19, 2020
Advertisement
Hide
The Boston Police Commissioner responded to the video by saying an investigation is underway and “a Sergeant involved in this incident” has been placed on “administrative leave.”
“I will take any additional action as necessary at the conclusion of this investigation,” he said.
*First Published: December 20, 2020, 7:55 am
0 Comments