I highly doubt that they were out on patrol in that thing. From the sounds of it he was getting some road head and flipped off the SWAT team while leaving a high profile event. Also a Navy vet should know that a Lenco Bearcat APC is not a tank.
Chances are the SWAT guys were on their way back to Fleet/PD after training or an event and pulled that guy over. SWAT is comprised of patrol officers. ETA: I think the guy filming overreacted.
Flipping the bird = reason to be pulled over and threatened with a ticket for improper signalling?
What would have been the proper way to flip off a cop or signal??
I’m so sick of hearing that BearCats are tanks. They’re just armored F-550s.
My local PD got one to much gnashing of teeth - much well-deserved gnashing of teeth, because of the secretive manner in which they went about acquiring it - but now every libtard in town is complaining about how the local PD has a ‘tank’ and that they’ll use it in an excessive force sort of situation.
Here’s further: http://m.gainesville.com/Section/545/Article/150419878
Sheriff’s armored vehicle makes traffic stop after rude gesture
By Arek Sarkissian Staff writer
Monday, April 13, 2015 8:59 PMThe Alachua County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into why deputies in a beefy armored vehicle performed a traffic stop on a Gainesville man who allegedly directed an obscene hand gesture toward them.
Lucas Jewell, 23, recorded his interaction on a cellphone with a team of ASO deputies in special-operations uniforms after the imposing Lenco Bear Cat Armored Personnel Carrier stopped his Ford Taurus at the Alachua County Headquarters Library downtown.
Jewell had been a candidate in the March Gainesville City Commission election.
In an ASO report written for “informational purposes,” Deputy Charles Drake wrote that he and his colleagues were headed east along the 1400 block of West University Avenue in the APC when he spotted the Ford and its driver extending a hand gesture toward them. Inside the car, the deputy also saw a woman with her head in the lap of the driver, later identified as Jewell, according to the report. The woman pulled up her head from Jewell’s lap and smiled at the deputies as the Ford passed, the report states. The deputies suspected the woman was performing an oral sex act on Jewell, the report states.
The deputies in the APC caught up with the Ford at the downtown library and made a traffic stop. Jewell told the deputies federal law permitted his use of the middle finger toward law enforcement and that the woman had her head in his lap because she was sleeping, the report states.
The incident — including the conduct of the deputies — was placed under investigation, according to ASO spokesman Art Forgey.
“We just saw the video this morning and we are investigating the incident,” Forgey said in an email.
Later he added, “It will look at everything from the stop, conduct and did (the deputies) violate any directives.”
Forgey also said ASO Sheriff Sadie Darnell could not comment on the incident because it is now part of an “active internal investigation.”
Eighth Circuit State Attorney Bill Cervone said he has never heard of any investigation spurred by someone who made a rude hand gesture.
“I’m not aware of any case or criminal infraction that would constitute,” Cervone said. He added later, “There are some constitutional free speech issues involved here.”
Jewell’s video was posted to the website Truth Voice, and it includes his explanation that he gestured at the ASO vehicle because he does not approve of having a militarized police force.
On Monday, Jewell told The Sun he plans to file a formal complaint.
“Is this really the ethics of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office? Is this how it conducts business?” Jewell said. “Have they really resorted to these bullying tactics?
“I thought they were above all this, but maybe I’m wrong.”
Jewell also said one of the deputies punched him shortly after he got out of his car. The informational report does not mention if Jewell was struck.
Jewell was issued the warning for a violation usually related to hand signals by motorists making various turns. The APC was on an assignment at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during the Orange & Blue Debut football game at the request of the University of Florida.
UF Police Maj. Brad Barber said the APC and the ASO SWAT team was called to the game as part of a standing security plan that was drawn up years ago.
The vehicle, with extra thick glass and bullet-resistant skin, was headed back to ASO headquarters when it was used to conduct the traffic stop.
“It is not a vehicle that is on routine patrol,” Forgey said.
The APC was provided to the ASO through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Grant for the county agency’s part in a regional SWAT team that serves agencies across Central Florida. The type of vehicle usually is deployed during dangerous operations when officers are placed at risk, but they became a contentious issue after the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri used them during riots in August that broke out in response to the fatal shooting of a black teenager.
Locally, a similar armored vehicle served as a life-saver for law enforcement. In June, members of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team took heavy gunfire in June from a Williston man who was wanted on several warrants. Marion County deputies dove for cover behind a nearby APC when a man identified as Dustin Heathman fired several rounds, which struck the heavy skin of the vehicle.
No deputies were injured, and Heathman was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder.
The controversy over militarized police brought on by the unrest in Ferguson also led to scrutiny over a federal program that provided state, county and municipal police departments with a variety of war-grade gear no longer in use by branches of the military. Last year, the Gainesville Police Department procured a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle for roughly $2,000 to replace an aging former armored bank car used by its SWAT team. However, GPD has no current plans to place the MRAP into service, said Officer Ben Tobias, a department spokesman.
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Well first of all if you’re going to flip off the cops, or do anything else that brings attention to yourself, you probably shouldn’t be doing other things that are illegal such as getting blown by your girlfriend.
So I wonder if the officers involved are smart enough to figure out who actually won that encounter? Somebody flips you off smile and wave, they want a reaction, don’t give it to them.
It’s always been my understanding that flipping the bird while driving counts as a form of road rage.
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Improper hand signal . . . :lol:
Best traffic stop ever. Good on the LEOs! I bet those guys were coming back from a training event and or call out when the improper hand signal occurred. If they were rolling out to a call they wouldn’t have given the douche the time of day.
My question is if you are driving down the road getting blown, who decides to screw that up by flipping off the cops or anybody else. Whatever happened to sit back, get comfortable and enjoy the road?
Kids these days.
No kidding, talk about your party foul and braux pah. What ever happened to good old fashioned road head etiquette? It was completely disrespectful to the young lady to interrupt her, umm hard work.
thing is if the good leo want to keep up the good name for the whole group they are going to have to get some thicker skin and leave some stupid stuff like this alone and live with it otherwise more and more folks are going to be turning on LEO as good people !
I guess he was feeling like a boss…
Improper hand signal is a pretty lame call on the cops part, IMO. If they really thought he was getting a hummer, they should’ve slapped him with an inattentive driving ticket.
Either way, that kid seems like moron.
I’m curious if the guy would have complained so vehemently (on youtube) if he was pulled over by a cruiser. His main irritation is aimed at “the tank”.
I am curious. What definitive proof is there that the girlfriend was performing fellatio? If it was a founded accusation, why didn’t they cite someone for public lewdness? After all, in the vehicle ob public streets is “public”.
The improper hand signal was the basis for the stop to investigate a public sexual indecency crime. By the time they were pulled over she probably zipped him up. Therefor they didnt have any proof to testify to in court and they weren’t charged.
The excuse of “she was sleeping” is about as common as “Ive had two beers” and “these aren’t my pants”.
Dumbasses flip off the cops all the time. If I found a reason to stop everyone that flipped me off or talked shit I wouldn’t get any work done. However, like I said before, that kind of conduct does bring attention to yourself and you should be sure you are not committing any crimes at the time. Ive had a few arrests because of stupid stuff like that. Like my old buddy would say “The people who shouldn’t have police contact always seem to find ways to have police contact”.
It takes 2 to tango and in this case both side are stupid. One for flipping off a “tank” while supposedly being blown. Really?? The other for taking the bait. Sorry, but unless the guy was driving all goofy due to being distracted the officers need to grow up and learn to prioritize. Hell they probably cost the tax payer more than any ticket they could issue by having that behemoth idle for the 10 minutes of who has more authority.
There is no proof, because, more than likely, it was just a bullshit excuse to pull the guy over and “teach him a lesson” for disrespecting them.
P.S. Put on a badge with a number, and a name tag, you’re a police officer, not Johnny SOCOM in a war zone.