According to a disturbing report from CBS Los Angeles, an LAPD officer seemingly accidentally filmed himself planting drugs on a suspect during a felony hit-and-run arrest.
In body camera video obtained by CBS, police are arresting Ronald Shields, who was charged with felony hit-and-run, having a gun in the trunk of his car, and cocaine possession back in April. The police report indicates that cocaine was found in Sheilds’ “left pocket.”
But the body cam footage shows something different. An officer identified by his last name, Gaxiola, picks up Shields’s wallet from the street and shows it to another officer, who motions that the wallet belongs to Sheilds. Gaxiola then puts the wallet back down and picks up a small bag of cocaine from the street and puts it in the wallet.
According to the CBS report, the officer apparently didn’t know that when the body cam is switched on, it automatically records and saves the previous 30 seconds without audio.
From Vox:
It’s possible, though, that the cops tried to reenact the act of finding the cocaine for the cameras. But that is still very deceptive — and when so clearly caught on video, it makes it hard to trust the police officers with just about everything else they’re doing. It makes a potentially credible case lose all credibility.
Watch the full CBS Los Angeles report below:
Featured image via screen grab
