An off-duty Massachusetts police officer threatened to shoot a driver in the head for committing a minor traffic violation.
Medford Police Detective Stephen Lebert was off-duty and wearing plain clothes when he exited his truck and stormed towards the driver. Lebert reached behind his back and pulled out his badge, threatening to “blow a hole right through your fucking head.”
Lebert continued to berate the driver as uniformed officers arrived on scene, telling him he was “lucky I’m a cop or I’d beat the fucking piss out of your right now.”
In order to comply with the law, the driver informed Lebert that he had a dashcam installed in his car that recorded both video and audio, but Lebert demanded the device be turned off.
“He was super aggressive at me, he was yelling and he jumped out of his truck and he yells that he’s going to blow my brains out, and so I got scared,” the driver said in the video. “I threw it in reverse, I’m like, What the hell’s going on – I don’t know this guy, you know? He’s got tattoos, he’s got a wife-beater. Where I’m from – I Grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts – that’s a rough area. When someone says they’ve got a gun, they usually got a gun.”
The video of the traffic stop later surfaced on social media and Medford Police Chief Leo Sacco promptly suspended Lebert with pay, a move many believe to be nothing more than a feigned slap on the wrist.
Aside from being unprofessional and discourteous, Lebert’s actions could very well have given rise to a violent confrontation, especially at the moment he furtively reached behind his back and issued threats to the driver.
Thankfully the situation was resolved peacefully and the driver was permitted to go on his way, though the lack of serious repercussions for Lebert may prove to tarnish the reputation of the Medford police department.
(This article was a submission from freelance writer Brent Rogers)
And these stupid motherfuckin cops wonder why people are starting to ambush them and kill them???
Does ANYONE really believe that the VICTIMS dash camera would have really made it into evidence, if the cop had shot him?
NO cop has a RIGHT to tell anyone to turn off a camera!! The TRUTH is what they FEAR!!
I have one in both of my vehicles, and I would not turn them off for ANYONE!
Also, insurance companies love them by the way! Well worth the investment.
How do I get one of those PAID suspensions, or leaves? We call those VACATIONS where I work?
What a dick head of a cop. He needs to be fired!
That ass cop should have been flattened into into a road frisbee.
It barely even qualified as a “minor traffic violation.” The motorist got lost and confused on a poorly-marked roadway at night. He ended up going the wrong way on a rotary, because he didn’t even realize it was a rotary and he thought he was just turning left. He immediately realized his error and got off as soon as it was safe to do so. He made a MISTAKE, he wasn’t speeding or driving drunk or ignoring signs, there’s nothing he could have done differently that would have prevented it from happening. It was just a mistake. Even the local Chief of Police admitted that rotary is poorly marked and that someone unfamiliar with it could have made that mistake.
Anyway, if you watch the video you can see it’s even worse than you describe. First Lebert was tailing the motorist with his brights on, then he swerves around and cuts him off to force him to stop…then jumps out of his truck and comes charging, screaming obscenities. That’s when the motorist put his car in reverse and tried to get out of there, FEARING FOR HIS LIFE. I don’t blame him, I would have thought I was about to become a victim of homicidal road rage. That’s when the badge finally became visible, which is the only reason the motorist stopped. Thank God…they would have piled on more charges for fleeing, all because he feared for his life.
By the way, the motorist was not “permitted to go on his way,” he was ORDERED to go on his way. The uniformed officer – who witnessed Lebert yelling and screaming like a crazy man, and saw how calm the motorist was despite it all – warned the motorist that if he didn’t stop complaining about how he was treated and immediately leave, he would face “more trouble.”
This is why people fear the police. A cop shows up and witnesses another cop terrorizing a private citizen, and warns the CITIZEN that they’re facing trouble if they don’t shut up and leave.
What a load of crap this is! Another cop with a god complex. This is the caliber of people hired to protect and serve. He should be charged for making terroristic threats. But, this douche is a member of the blue badge club, so its all good for him. See what would happen if anyone else did this. He went after an unarmed man, next time he may not be so lucky. His unprofessional act could of easily ended in tragedy.
That so called cop looks and acts like a criminal. He needs to be fired! He’s lucky the kid wasn’t armed, because the way he was threatening this kid, I wouldn’t blame him if he shot at mother f***er! This had to be in Massachusetts, those are the worse bunch of animals in the country!
In the state of Ga., it is illegal for a police officer to make a traffic stop in an unmarked car unless it is a felony in progress. This law is perfect to protect the citizen from a rogue cop or impersonator to harm to a citizen. This moron cop should be dismissed with no recommendation for a job reference. Too many move about from one force to another. The 99% good cops suffer. I would not pull over for this vehicle and if it is a well marked car, pull over in a well lit area with open businesses. Any cop that objects to this procedure is a danger.
Wow, That was a furtive movement where it appears that he shows AOJ: Ability (if he is threatening that he has a gun and is doing a furtive movement, i.e. reaching behind his back as if to draw) Opportunity (he would have had the opportunity to kill because of his proximity if he did have a gun and decided to use it) as well as Jeopardy (he got out of the vehicle in an obviously aggressive manner shouting that he could blow his Fuckin head off, although he didn’t necessarily say “I am going to blow your head off”) He was also unidentifiable and how would the other driver had known he was a police detective especially with the tattoos and wife beater T which he described correctly. If the scared drive had fired in self defense carrying a CHL then with the video he would have had a good case for a legitimate self defense case, but that wouldn’t come out until he had been severely restrained and detained with some gusto, as well as smeared by the media, have his life threatened again and probably going bankrupt and his family suffering due to a hot headed police detective, Nice work Medford Police. I know Police have a tough job and that I would not want to do it but that is not acceptable. That detective put himself at risk as well as the individual he pulled over in what looks like a fit of rage. NOT acceptable.