Police officer threatens to break teens leg after racially profiling him at traffic stop
Police officer threatens to break teens leg after racially profiling him at traffic stop
Cellphone footage appears to show a Minneapolis police officer threatening to break the legs of a teenager who claims he was pulled over because of racial profiling.
The March 18 video recorded by Faysal Mohamed lasts for 30 seconds and begins with a police officer giving a violent warning while his gun was trained on the teen and his two friends.
‘Plain and simple, if you f*** with me I’m going to break your leg before you even get a chance to run. Be honest. I don’t screw around,’ says the officer.
Keeping calm, Mohamed’s friend replies to the officer without missing a beat to say, ‘Who said I was going to run?’
Put on the backfoot, the unidentified officer justifies his aggressive tone saying, ‘I’m just giving you a heads up. I’m trying to be Officer Friendly right now.’
According to Mohamed he and friends had just left the YMCa in south Minneapolis when the police officer pulled over their car.
They were told to get out and put into handcuffs and when they asked why, the police officer said, ‘Because I feel like arresting you’.
Mohamed told a CBS News report that they were held for 45 minutes while they were searched and a background check completed on them.
The officers claimed they were being investigated for grand theft auto, but were let go.
Liban Yusuf, 18, who wa with Mohamed said the officers frightened him.
‘They had their guns drawn,’ said Liban to Fox News. ‘I don’t know why they were so aggressive.’
Former police officer, Mylan Masson, who teaches law enforcement at Hennepin Technical College in Minneapolis, says what the officers did appeared wrong.
‘It’s a threat … it’s an illegal, you know, you can’t threaten people. And the other thing is you can’t break legs. It’s not part of the Constitution and it’s not part of the laws that we have,’ Masson said to CBS News.
According to Fox News, the officer who made the threats is called Rod Webber and Minneapolis police confirmed an investigation is underway.
