[Xploit Machine]

Officer Aims Gun At Driver

No, it's not America

A NSW police officer has been harshly criticised in court after he aimed his gun at a driver's head during a routine traffic inspection. Police dashcam taken on January 22, 2015 shows the excessive force a senior constable used while pulling over a driver for a random breath test.

During the night of the incident, highway patrol officers noticed a motorist slow down as the car approached a breath test area. The car reportedly turned down a nearby road just south of Canberra, Fairfax Media reports. A Senior Constable followed the driver and eventually pulled him over. The officer then approached the vehicle with his gun drawn before using it to tap on the 32-year-old driver's window. The officer opened the car door and aimed his weapon at the driver's head, who can be seen raising his hands and lying on the ground.

The driver cooperated with the officer's demands and did not resist as he was kneed in the back and handcuffed, before being charged with drink driving.

The driver was found not guilty

[kellyhound]

The senior constable told ACT police officers who arrived soon after that he had breath-tested the driver and the man had returned a positive blood-alcohol reading.

The driver was taken to Woden police station and later charged with level-three drink-driving.

Lawyers for the driver, from Ben Aulich and Associates, argued the arrest was improper given the police officer's behaviour, which they said showed excessive force.

They also said the officer had failed to disclose the exact nature of the arrest.

The driver's barrister, Jack Pappas, said the police officer had not entered any information about the use of force in his online report of the incident, which was required under police guidelines.

In handing down her decision on Friday, Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter said she was appalled the police officer had drawn his gun in the circumstances and it was clearly unnecessary to have levelled it at the man's face.

The court heard he had given evidence that he did not believe his use of force had been excessive, it was reasonable to draw his gun and he had not known he had to enter the use-of-force information in his report.

He said he had drawn the gun because the area was dark and he felt threatened as he did not know how many people were in the car.

But Ms Hunter said the video showed the area was well-lit and there had clearly been one person in the car.

She said the officer could have sat in his vehicle and waited for the ACT police officers to arrive or called for back-up.

Ms Hunter said that, while the senior constable claimed he had told police who arrived at the scene what had happened, it was clear from the evidence of two ACT police officers that he had not mentioned he had held a gun to the man's head or kneed him in the back.

She found the drink-driving offence was not proved after it emerged the breathalyser the police officer used had not been an approved device under ACT law and Canberra police had not carried out their own breath test at the scene.

Ms Hunter said that meant she was not required to make any formal finding as to whether the man's arrest had been improper. She awarded the defendant costs.

guess the dumbass aggitated lying cop forgot the dashcam was rollin'