Yet another out-of-control cop in Massachusetts.
Multiple sources (including pretty much every local mainstream media outlet) report that Medford detective Stephen Lebert threatened to “put a hole right through your (expletive) head” (emphasis mine):
MEDFORD, Mass. — A Boston-area detective has been placed on administrative leave after he was recorded Sunday night apparently making threats to a driver during an off-duty traffic stop, reports CBS Boston.
The driver recorded the incident on his dashboard video camera. The recording, which was uploaded to YouTube, begins after the driver allegedly drove the wrong way on a rotary, or traffic circle.
Soon after the video begins, the detective, who has been identified as Stephen Lebert, can be seen pulling his pickup truck alongside the driver’s car, and exiting, wearing a sleeveless undershirt and shorts.
As Lebert approaches the driver-side door, the driver reverses the car. Lebert can then be seen displaying what appears to be a badge.
“I’ll put a hole right through your (expletive) head,” Lebert can then be heard saying, two times within a a matter of seconds.
As the driver then pulls into a parking spot, Lebert can be heard saying, “I’m a (expletive) Medford detective.”
He adds: “You’re lucky I’m a cop, because I’d be beating the (expletive) (expletive) out of you right now.”
All this for what should have been a routine traffic stop.
To fully appreciate just how bad the situation was, I encourage you to watch the raw dashcam video taken by the victim.
This was no heat-of-the-moment burst of adrenalin, the perpetrator was never threatened. His behavior towards the victim, during the entire 7-minute video, is a case study in abusive police behavior.
This strikes a little closer to home for me because the incident took place within walking distance of my home.
How many other “bad apples” like this are there, and what will it take to remove the threat they represent to the public? This officer, abusing a soft-spoken civilian even after the victim informed him of the dash-cam, has been with the PD for THIRTY YEARS. Dangerously unstable, heavily-armed thugs like Mr. Lebert are a far more immediate threat to my personal safety than ANY “terrorist” threat, including the Boston Marathon bombing. If we can shred constitutional freedoms and turn our society into an armed police state in the interest of “protecting” us from “potential terrorists”, is there something we can do to protect us from thugs like this?
When will this state start protecting my family and me from home-grown state-sponsored terrorists employed by local law enforcement agencies?
…do cops not have go through background checks and psych evals? Where do PDs find these guys?
They grow them. This is a cultural thing, it’s not about one troubled person.
This is not an aberration. It’s not universal, but it’s something that happens a lot, probably every day. There just weren’t a lot of video cameras around to capture it until now. Widespread citizen use of them may yet reform police attitudes.
Note that this incident would not have been captured by a police body camera, since the detective was not in uniform.
The Medford PD found this guy thirty years ago. I’m pretty sure they knew as much from their three decades of working with him as they would learn from any background check or psych eval.
This is as much about the Medford police department as it is about Mr. Lebert.
Idiot state trooper R. Bradford Porter:
Can’t tell whether he’s a sick guy who thinks he’s still in Afghanistan or just a run-of-the-mill thug trying to impress the babysitter. Either way, he shouldn’t bea cop anymore. But of course he still is.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/07/25/trooper-lawsuit-ends-damages/jIr2n6UY0OeFsDvxwOlboI/story.html
When apologists use the term “bad apple” to describe what they hope is an isolated incident, they forget the point of the metaphor. A bad apple like Lebert spoils the whole law enforcement bunch unless he is promptly removed. The metaphor is more apt than they realize.
straight to retirement. Apparently he did something f’ed up in 2012 as well. He’s a management problem.
I wrote a post on use of lethal force recently. We need a statute. The same goes for excessive force. Right now, there’s really only case law to go on.
In a chronically underfunded town or state, I can think of a long list of places where our tax revenue is better spent than paying the pension of thugs like this.
He most certainly is a management problem. I’d like to believe he just FORFEITED his ticket to retirement.
The driver was contrite and polite. The Detective was off the charts intimidating and tyrannical. You’re right Tom, this is a big problem which needs to be addressed. I’m sure all the “good” officers out there would agree, they can’t possibly want to be associated with behavior like this.