The media has gotten its hands on some pretty damning footage, showing police Senior Constable Stephen Flanagan drawing his weapon on a driver for little to no apparent reason.
The ABC obtained the video of the 2015 incident, after it was tendered as part of an ongoing Supreme Court hearing into the police officer’s suspended pay in light of the debacle.
In the video, Flanagan is seen using his patrol car’s horn (but not its sirens) to urge an allegedly speeding driver to pull over on Queensland’s Landsborough Highway.
After the driver complies near Longreach – then drives off for a distance, before pulling over once more – Flanagan exits his vehicle and points his gun at the driver, yelling at him to get out of the car.
The ABC has obtained exclusive footage of the moment a #policeman pulled a #gun on a motorist accused of speeding. https://t.co/TVthLwVbgW
— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) June 6, 2016
Flanagan thought the car was stolen – it wasn’t. After uncuffing the driver, the couple on the other end of the gun filed a complaint to the his department, which resulted in Flanagan’s suspension without pay.
What’s more – the gun-pulling deal came only a short time after he was charged with deprivation of liberty and assault for a separate messed-up run-in with a driver.
He’ll face court this week on the criminal charges relating to the Longreach incident. The Supreme Court case on his pay will be running at the same time, too. It certainly doesn’t look to swell for him, based on the footage already handed up.
Source: ABC / Courier Mail.
Photo: ABC / Twitter.
