Ridgeland Police Chief responds after edited body cam video goes viral
By: Ridgeland, MS - Ridgeland Police Chief Brian Myers says an internal investigation is underway on the officers that received criticism on social media due to a body-cam video showing a shouting match between an officer and a man he pulled over.
“There has been a video that has come to light that was highly edited and also clipped and taken out of... some of it was switched around. Regardless, there were statements made by law enforcement that should not have been made,” Chief Myers said.
On March 16th, Fredrick Gaddis was stopped on South Pear Orchard Road in Ridgeland for an expired license plate, but what happened next has now gone semi-viral on Facebook.
Once stopped, the officer walked to the car and asked Gaddis to roll down the back window three times due to its tint, but Gaddis did not respond.
Then, when the officer asked him to get out of the car, he did.
Once told about why he was pulled over, Gaddis then showed officers his legal tag inside his car.
Officers then asked Gaddis for his license and proof of insurance. He provided his license on his phone, but not his insurance at the time. After that, Gaddis willingly gave up his firearms on him and in his car.
Then, the conversation takes a complete turn, causing one officer to be criticized for his language.
Chief Myers says they are conducting an investigation to determine discipline for the officers involved.
“There will be action in regard to our officers. As I said here at the beginning of this, we police our own. We make sure that everyone is behaving and acting professionally.”