Mr Uncle Leroy
All Star
In May, we told you of a lawsuit involving a Rohnert Park, California, cop who looked ready to fire his handgun at a man who was filming him. Last year's standoff happened right outside the resident's house. Claiming civil rights violations, the alleged victim sued (PDF) the officer and police department that is located about an hour north of San Francisco.
The police department and officer, David Rodriguez, have now responded to the lawsuit. They essentially say it was resident Don McComas' fault from the get go and that McComas' own actions outside his house prompted the officer to draw his weapon on the Rohnert Park man.
"And for a third, separate and affirmative defense, these answering defendants allege that the sole proximate cause of the injuries and damages, if any, claimed by plaintiff was the negligence and fault of the plaintiff...," they responded in court documents. (PDF)
Besides that, police claimed the suit should be tossed because the officer held an "objectively reasonable belief that the safety of the life of the defendants and others were imminently threatened... " The authorities said McComas wasn't complying with repeated orders to take his hands "out of his pocket." McComas eventually complied, and the situation escalated. The officer continued wielding his weapon, according to the video.
In the story we published when the suit was filed, we wrote that McComas said he was in his front yard putting a trailer on to his vehicle when Rodriguez, who the department said was searching for parking scofflaws, drove up. McComas began filming with a mobile phone, the cop began filming McComas, and things spiraled downhill from there.
The officer was initially put on paid administrative leave, but his job eventually was restored after Rodriguez was cleared by the department.
At one point during the confrontation, McComas warned the officer that he was going to upload his video to YouTube. The video has received more than 696,000 hits. "This is going all over YouTube," McComas said, according to the video.
As the officer leaves at the end of the five-minute video, he is overheard saying: "Go ahead and have a nice day. Put it on YouTube. I don't care."
Watch the video to see the encounter for yourself.
Cop who drew gun on man filming him says man deserved it
That old cop did all that posturin and aint did shyt...