Wisconsin Police Department Releases Body Camera Footage After Claims Officer Planted Evidence During Traffic Stop
Video of a police officer throwing a plastic bag into a vehicle during a traffic stop went viral on social media. The Village of Caledonia Police Department in Wisconsin has released body camera footage of the incident. The police department released footage of a July 21 stop on July 24 after some social media users accused the officer of planting evidence in the vehicle. According to a statement by police, the bag seen being tossed into the back seat of the vehicle had initially been retrieved from a passenger during a search.
“Since there were NO DRUGS in the corner tear, the officers discarded the empty packaging material in the vehicle. This is what was observed in the video,” the statement said. Police claim the plastic originally came from an occupant’s pocket. The 16-second video was recorded and sharing to Facebook on July 24 by a man who goes by La Savoo.
“First time ever seeing a cop try to throw sum on me just to get reason to search the car. I’m just a local music artist from Racine Wi he ain’t even know I was recording you can tell he was nervous,” La Savoo wrote. The video shows an officer tossing something into the back of the car. Which causes La Savoo to ask, “Hey Bro what’s that?”
The officer responding “What’s what?”
La Savoo replied, “What you just threw in here. I got you on camera, bro.”
“I got you on camera, we’re all good,” the officer replied.
Police explained in a statement officers had pulled the car over because the driver was going 63 mph in a 45 mph. The driver was female but hasn’t been identified, and there were front and rear passengers in the vehicle.
Police said in the statement about the bag obtained from a passenger’s pocket, “While we would discourage officers from discarding items into a citizen’s vehicle, the video is clear that the officer is NOT planting evidence or doing anything illegal.” Police have not said why the passengers were searched, or why one man was handcuffed. In total, six hours of body camera footage was released from the four officers who responded to the scene.
Body camera footage shows an officer pulling the plastic bag from a man’s pocket saying, “What was in the bags, man?” The corner tear bags are commonly used to hold illegal drugs, according to police. After an officer tossed the bag into the vehicle, he explained that he didn’t have on gloves and did not want to hold onto it.
The officer also said “I’m telling you where it came from, so … It’s an empty baggie at the moment, too.”
There was no one arrested during the incident, but the driver was cited for speeding. Caledonia Police are still looking investigating the incident.