A heated confrontation with a Shreveport police officer screaming in a teen’s face was caught on camera and now the officer has been put on administrative leave, pending a full investigation.
The a 50-second video was posted to Facebook and shows officer Gary Thomas enraged and aggressively confronting and cursing the teen.
The alleged crime? Police were reportedly called on the teenager for playing loud music on his front porch.
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The recorded clash has made its rounds on social media, sparking outrage and has caught the attention of activists.
FURIOUS!
Neighbors called the police because this teenage boy had on loud music.
He never touched or threatened this officer in ANY way.
The officer, Gary Thomas, was fired from @ShreveportPD last year after he was arrested for felony domestic violence…but got his job back. pic.twitter.com/h2iyDX7eEc
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) May 7, 2018
“FURIOUS!” said Shaun King.
“Neighbors called the police because this teenage boy had on loud music. He never touched or threatened this officer in ANY way. The officer, was fired from @ShreveportPD last year after he was arrested for felony domestic violence…but got his job back.”
As King mentioned, this isn’t the first time Officer Thomas has been under fire. Thomas returned to the force after appealing his firing after charges that he abused his wife. He was arrested in 2017. That same year he went out on medical leave because another officer shot him in the foot while trying to shot a dog.
Shreveport Police Chief Alan Crump said Thomas actions are inexcusable.
“The behavior that I witnessed on the clip of the video that was seen definitely is not something that we train our officers to do,” Crump said.
“And it led me to instruct an inquiry to investigate the matter in full so that we can get a full picture of what is going on so that the proper decisions can be made relative to the entire issue.”
“We are held to a standard, and we are obligated to maintain those. And if it goes out of the boundary or appears to go out of the boundary, then we take the proper actions to investigate to see if a violation was made. And then I will act accordingly.”
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Mayor Ollie Tyler released this statement on Monday:
“We are concerned with the content of the video that has been circulating on social media. I have instructed Chief Crump to take all appropriate action and to complete a thorough review of this matter. We expect all of our employees to interact with our public in a professional and courteous manner.”
The video has many upset as it seems like there’s a perpetual series of incidents where police have been caught on camera misusing and abusing their power against people of color.