Anti Police Brutality Filmmaker Davy V. Threatened by Greece Police Officer

On Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at approx. 5:00 p.m. I was driving on 390 Northbound as I came up to the Ridgeway Avenue exit. As I came up to the exit, I noticed a police cruiser with its lights on pulled off to the side of the exit. I was following behind 3 or 4 vehicles who were also getting off at the Ridgeway Avenue exit.

At first I didn't think anything of the fact there was a police cruiser parked off to the side, because precisely the fact that it was parked off to the side, I thought that perhaps it was conducting a simple traffic stop. As I came closer to the intersection of Ridgeway Avenue, I noticed that the traffic lights were out and not working. At the same time I observed a police officer walking over towards my vehicle.

The officer seemed very upset and angry by the look on his face, and he walked right up to my driver's side window and before I was able to roll the window down, (My car is very old car and the window is very slow to roll down, especially when it is cold) the officer started to bang on my window glass with a long metal flashlight that he was holding in his hand.

The officer then began yelling at me asking me "Didn't you see the fucking police car back there?" I asked the officer what he meant, what he was talking about, and he again yelled at me "Didn't you see the fucking police car back there?" I did not understand, so I replied "I was following the cars in front of me." I then noticed that the officer became even more angry as he leaned down and more closer to me and said to me "So if someone is stealing a tv set, you're going to steal a TV set too?" At that point, I said to the officer, "I am sorry Officer, I was simply following the cars in front of me, I apologize but there was no need for you to bang on my glass with your flashlight and be so angry and talk about stealing TV's." The officer then replied: "Are you threatening me?" I answered, "Absolutely not." The officer then laughed in my face and was still very angry.

At this point I thought that the officer was completely out of line and his actions were not only unprofessional, but very threatening and intimidating. I asked the officer for his badge number and his name, and he refused to give them to me. The officer noticed that I was trying to look on his sweater for the badge and at that point he placed his hand over his badge covering it up and began to walk away. By this time the traffic was moving and as I drove up again I asked the officer for his name and badge number and he told me "You better get out of here before you get fucked up."

As I crossed the 390 overpass on Ridgeway Avenue I noticed another police cruiser, an SUV at the intersection of Ridgeway Avenue and Bellwood Drive. I told a young officer who was standing in the intersection that an officer had just threatened me and I asked him if he knew that officer's name. The officer replied that he did not know who that officer was. I called 911 and Sergeant Carris called me back and advised me that the officer's name was Officer Webster and he recommended that I make a statement.

Sergeant Carris was very courteous and professional and he apologized to me for Officer Webster's actions and assured me that the Greece Police Department was a new Department under Chief Baxter and unlike in the past, "The Greece Police doesn't sweep things under the rug anymore." He also told me that for the first time, the Greece Police Department has an Internal Affairs.