Video shows officer point gun at doctor on his own property

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Colleen Slevin, Associated Press
Updated 7:27 pm CDT, Thursday, July 9, 2020

A Colorado police department where officers were fired after re-enacting the chokehold death of a young Black man is under scrutiny again after video emerged of an officer pulling a gun on a doctor trying to park at a refugee center he operates.

Police body camera video released by Dr. P.J. Parmar's lawyer as well as Parmar's own cellphone video show a white Aurora police officer identified as J. Henderson pointing a gun at Parmar, who is Indian American, on March 1 after Parmar honked at the officer's police car parked in his way.

In the video, the officer walks to Parmar's car, says "Let me see your (expletive) hands. What are you doing?" and orders him to stay in the car. Parmar is heard explaining that he owns the property and telling the officer to leave. Parmar then gets out, walks around to a door on one side of the building, punches in a security code and goes inside.

The video shows the officer looking bewildered after Parmar leaves his car. After other officers arrive to help, the officer is heard saying that he could ticket Parmar for careless driving since he pulled into the parking area the wrong way.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Video-shows-officer-point-gun-at-doctor-on-his-15398208.php

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Aurora Police facing possible federal lawsuit after officer pulls gun on doctor entering his own property
Video now going viral shows one of the department's officers pulling a gun on a doctor trying to park on his own property.

- video at link -

Author: Jordan Chavez
Published: 11:01 PM MDT July 8, 2020
Updated: 11:01 PM MDT July 8, 2020

AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora Police Department (APD) is once again under scrutiny.

Video now going viral shows one of the department's officers pulling a gun on a doctor trying to park on his own property.

Dr. P.J. Parmar is the owner and founder of Mango House in Aurora, a shared space for refugees. Mango House currently spans two properties at 10180 E. Colfax Ave. and 1532 Galena St. On March 1, Parmar said he was trying to drop off Boy Scout gear at the latter address, but a police vehicle was blocking his way.

Parmar said he honked at the officer to move, but instead the officer approached him and held the doctor at gunpoint.

"He jumped out of his car," Parmar said. "Told me to get my bleeping hands in the air and was right at my door with his gun at my head."

More:
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/aurora-police-facing-possible-federal-lawsuit-after-officer-pulls-gun-on-doctor-entering-his-own-property/73-3653c227-d625-4106-98de-8545a72af085

[RandiFan1290]

1. Gang of thugs

[DonaldsRump]

2. Doctor Parmar is AMAZING

He handled this brilliantly.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

13. It may be that an Indian-American and African-American have different experiences in

this culture and in interactions with white people in general and police in particular -some similarities yes, but some differences. Would a black African American walking away from a cop with gun drawn have survived? Maybe, maybe not. Would he have confronted a cop parked in front of his bldg? OI know its specualtion but when I read the article I couldnt help but think the confusion on the part of the cop was him being bewildered because the Dr. looked like a person of color but wasnt behaving llke the stereotype some have of the black African American man.

[Dios Mio]

3. What is wrong with these cops?

[PSPS]

4. You'd almost think cops get their daily dose of steroids at the station when they start their shifts

[MuchBetterThanThis]

5. How dare you tell me to get out of your way!!

Who the hell do you think you are!!!?.. You're what?.. A citizen that pays my salary?.. Ahh, so what. . I'm the boss dammit!

[JudyM]

18. 'Zactly.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. A Citizen ON HIS OWN PROPERTY!

A force multiplier to what you said!

[llashram]

6. Parmer is lucky

if he had been African-american it would have probably turned out much worse for the doctor. I remember Louis Gates, the Harvard professor 2009 and the Cambridge, Massachusetts police arresting him on his own property because he didn't submit to them. Parma being Indian, it probably made the officer with the gun and badge confused. Is he African-american and can I beat this one and arrest him without a problem with my job? HMMMM, what a conundrum.

[sop]

7. Anyone notice Henderson told the back-up cops Dr. Parmar had used his car to threaten him?

That's the favorite justification when cops shoot unarmed drivers during vehicular stops: "he used the car as a weapon, I was in fear for my life." That, or "he reached for his waist." It's part of justififying cop shootings 101 at the academy.

Henderson is the typical trigger-happy, bully-boy cop. We don't need to defund the police, we need to denazify the police.

[reACTIONary]

21. De Nazify the police!

I think you are right. That should be the goal.

[Tracer]

8. Both the cop and the doctor could have handled this a lot better.

1. Cop shouldn't have been so fast to draw his gun aggressively.

2. Doctor kept it going and going, when he should have just shut up.

[MineralMan]

10. Nope. There was no reason for the cop to draw his weapon

at all. The man honked at him while he was cooping in the building's parking area.

The doctor told the cop he was trespassing on the property he owned.

The cop should not have drawn his weapon, and should have apologized and left the property the first time the owner told him to leave.

The police are not in charge of other people's property. The reality is that the cop had no business being on that property at that time. The cop is in the wrong 100% in this incident.

[sop]

12. Fully agree. That cop had no legal right to be there. He was not responding to a 911 call, no

crime was being committed, there was no probable cause for any type of stop and the cop should never have pulled his gun on a citizen in that situation. The cop should have left immediately after being told he was on private property and had no right to be there. Instead, the cop escalated the situation for no apparent reason other than he was being "disrespected" by a citizen who wasn't acting submissively enough.

Henderson then called for back-up and started up with the usual authoritarian "I need to figure out who owns this property" bullshit. No, a citizen going about his legal business, on his own property, with no suspicion of a crime being observed or reported, does not have to justify his actions to the police, particularly because some cop is angry someone honked a horn at him. We do not live in a police state.

What ever happened to the days cops actually knew the people on their beat. Patrol cops should "do their homework" and learn more about the neighborhoods they are supposed to "protect and serve," not assume everyone they encounter is a criminal. However, from the conversation on the video, I suspect the cops were well aware of the kind of operation Dr. Parmar was running at that location, and the type of services to the community he was providing.

Apparently, others in the neighborhood weren't happy about Dr. Parmar's community activities. Dr. Parmar even mentioned previous reported, yet unsolved, "bomb threats," so there's a history of cops not adequately investigating these incidents. Given the sort of community services Parmar provides there, I'll guess the cop was in the parking area at that time of night, waiting for (stalking) a certain type of "suspect" to show up - a homeless person perhaps? a drug user? - so the cop could harass or arrest them.

There's a lot wrong with this encounter, but Dr. Parmar acted lawfully and was in the right.

[MineralMan]

14. Oh, he was probably having a little nap there, out of sight.

Cooping. The Doctor's horn probably woke him up and he was feeling guilty about sleeping on the job. So, he got all blustery and authoritative to distract from his sleeping. He tried to cow the civilian into not asking any questions. However, the good doctor wasn't having any of that nonsense.

The police have an important job to do. They are needed to protect the public from criminal behavior. Most of the time, though, there is nothing going on that needs their attention, especially at night. So, they're bored most of the time on that shift. So, they find places where they can nap unseen by anyone. This cop picked a poor place to coop, though.

I think we need the police. However, I think we often hire the wrong people for that job. That cop was one of those wrong people for the job.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

15. The doctor didn't do anything wrong.

Stop playing the "both sides" bullshit.

[Polybius]

20. I agree

All he had to do was smile and say he was the doctor. And never ever beep at a police car to move.

[marble falls]

9. Something wrong with that cop.

[PatSeg]

11. They aren't just arrogant and hostile,

apparently stupid as hell too. Obviously, this kind of reaction must be second nature for this and other cops. Considering the climate we are living in now, you'd think that even the asshole cops would be more careful with their behavior. But no, some of them just double down, daring anyone to fire them.

[LogicFirst]

16. Solution to problem

Dock the pay of every police officer who is disciplined, and put the money into mental health related agencies.

[aggiesal]

17. The problem going forward, as I see it, ...

even though the Dr. was within his rights to act the way he did, and the police were not within their rights to act the way they did, next time this doctor needs anything from the police, they will take their time to respond or assist in any way.

One more point;
In Europe, police officers hired have college degrees in psychology or sociology or some other similar degree.
This should be the model that police departments should use moving forward.

[LudwigPastorius]

19. Oink!

Oink, oink!