‘Out of control’: Off-duty St. Joseph officer caught on camera threatening couple
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ST. JOSEPH, MO (WDAF) — A St. Joseph police officer is off the streets and on administrative duty. Verbal threats, an invasion of space and a video that tells part of the story led to that decision.
“I’m not working right now. I’m on vacation. I will f*** you up. Sit down,” Officer Brandon Harrison said in a video recorded while he was off duty.
Summer Bohon recorded the video June 17. The man getting yelled at, Max McLeod, is her fiancé.
“I’m recording this,” Bohon said in the video.
Harrison continued yelling at her fiancé, saying, “Tell that to a judge. See who they f****g believe, b****.”
“Out of control, just out of control,” McLeod said, describing Harrison.
Initially, Bohon and McLeod called police to file a report about a hit-and-run.
They said a truck hit their car and took off the mirror at Speedy’s convenience store. The shop is just two minutes from their house, where they made the call.
Police showed up. Then, so did Harrison, but he wasn’t in uniform.
“He tried to say that we hit his truck,” McLeod said, “and in all reality, it wasn’t his truck. It was a first (generation) Dodge that hit our car.”
Harrison can be heard in the video saying, “You don’t f****n’ lie to her about that b******t,” referring to the officer called to the scene. “I just watched you hit me.”
“That wasn’t his truck, so it just really confused me,” Bohon said.
They don’t know why Harrison was there. They just know his words and actions made them feel unsafe by someone they expect to protect and serve — on or off-duty.
“He said that he was going to ‘f’ him up. He said to, ‘Take it to court, b****, and see who they believe,’” Bohon said. “He was acting as if he had more power, no matter what happened even if he was in the wrong, like he could hide under his badge.”
Police sent FOX4 the same statement they posted to Facebook, saying in part, “unbecoming conduct on the part of police officers adversely affects the operations of the department and ultimately destroys public confidence in it.”
“He was spitting in my face because he was so close, threatening to beat me up,” McLead said. “I just sat down and kind of kept my cool.”
Another interesting note, the couple called the cops for a different incident that happened the night before all this took place.
They said Harrison and the other officer in the video were the ones called out to the scene and actually helped. Other than that, they said they don’t know Harrison.
Police continue to investigate what happened and Harrison’s actions. Harrison will remain on “administrative duty” pending the investigation, according to police.
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