Video shows police officer point gun at passenger for 9 minutes during traffic stop

If you read the article for information, it says that the cop had concluded the contact portion of the stop and was walking back to his motorcycle to write the ticket, when the passenger started to reach under the front seat. This is known by 99% of America as a "not to do when stopped by the cops" move. The officer drew on him and had him keep his hands visible (no finger on the trigger notice) until backup arrived and they could safely write the ticket while someone observed the occupants. The reason it took 9 minutes was due to traffic and location. It took that long for back-up to get there, remember the officer is alone with multiple people in the car.

While I may not have handled the situation the same way myself, I can't fault the officer for caution and waiting for backup. AS for using his firearm to hold the passenger until backup arrived, we do not see the whole situation, only part. The camera does not show the whole stop or vehicle, the passenger completely or the driver. We do not know if there were more people in the vehicle or not. Also I would have to check my Tats book to see if the officer recognized the hand tats as gang related or not. (I have tats so no comments there please).

Summary, we know too little of the "totality of circumstances" to make a fair decision on the choice of tactics. This is one of the problems with some videos, they seem to show something when in reality we do not see the whole picture. I will reserve judgment of the officer, and say it ended well with all parties alive, no extra holes, and the driver only got a ticket.

Albeit I respect all's input and opinions, the fact of the matter is that we were not there to see what the officer saw, hear what he heard, or feel what he felt.

This sort of video floats around time after time.... The video is incomplete and shows only what the spinmaster wants to show.

This sort of video simply insights and provokes....

If I was the passenger, I would put my hands on the dashboard, or palms-up on my lap, and request that the officer not aim the gun directly at me. I don't know why the officer felt compelled to draw, but he could have his gun drawn and at the ready if his muzzle angle is depressed a bit.

*Well, now that I read the article, I see that's basically what happened... and it didn't seem to help.