Phoenix police officer involved in viral video stop of couple fired

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/23/phoenix-officer-viral-video-fired/4068948002/

Uriel J. Garcia, Arizona RepublicPublished 4:45 a.m. ET Oct. 23, 2019

A Phoenix couple is demanding $10 million from the city of Phoenix after they say officers used excessive force and threatened to shoot them. Submitted Video

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams has fired the officer involved in a viral cellphone video depicting him threatening to shoot at a family.

The video, recorded by a bystander on May 27, shows Phoenix Officer Christopher Meyer pointing a gun at a car occupied by Dravon Ames, his pregnant fiancee, Iesha Harper, and their children.

In the video, Meyer can be heard yelling, "You're going to get f--king shot," when Ames didn't immediately open his vehicle's door. The officer also told Ames, "I'm going to put a cap in your ass."

A second officer, who police did not identify, received a written reprimand. Williams described the officer's actions as trying to de-escalate the situation.

The announcement of Meyer's firing during a Tuesday news conference came at the same time Phoenix police announced the firing of Clinton David Swick following an unrelated investigation into his Facebook posts.

The Plain View Project, launched by Philadelphia lawyer Emily Baker-White, created a database of public Facebook posts and comments made by current and former police officers from several jurisdictions across the United States, including Phoenix. The posts endorsed violence in some cases against Mexicans, Muslims, women and criminal defendants.

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Disturbing video, ICYMI:

[brush]

1. Horrendous. Some people just don't have the cool headed needed...

to be a police officer. Better methods needed in training to weed out unfit characters like the out-of-control idiots in this video. It's almost a miracle no one got shot by the gun wielders.

[CozyMystery]

2. Okay, for all that police violence, what happened?

A person anonymously called the police and told them the family's 4 year old daughter had stolen a doll from a discount store.

Firing the cop is not enough. I hope the family wins the lawsuit. A former AZ attorney general is their lawyer.

Link to the claim filed by the family's lawyer: https://www.azfamily.com/explicit-notice-of-claim-filed-against-phoenix-pd/file_84e9add0-8e5d-11e9-a957-13b06cf9bfe6.html

I had to download the PDF to read the entire claim. What happened to that family is horrible. I'm glad someone recorded it since the police violated department rules by not wearing their body cameras.

Also, the officers did not file an incident report, they issued a ticket with another officer's name on it, and they impounded the car without justification.

I think both officers should have been fired. Also, they should be arrested and tried for assault and battery and terroristic threats, at the very least.