Saratoga County Sheriff Slaps Man and Takes Keys [UPDATED 11/10]

Earlier today we brought you the story of the sheriff’s deputy in New York who slapped a legal gun owner after the owner respectfully declined a warrantless search.

We are now getting word that the officer in question, Sergeant Shawn R. Glans, was resigned from his post today shortly before being arrested on the charges of official misconduct and harassment. The misconduct charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail. Via the Times Union:

    Sergeant Shawn R. Glans was arrested and resigned Monday, days after the deputy was suspended after a video posted on the Internet captured him allegedly slapping a young man as the deputy insisted on searching his vehicle.

    Glans of the Saratoga County sheriff’s department was charged Monday with official misconduct and harassment. The misconduct charge, a misdemeanor, is a the more serious offense and carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. A judge forbid him from having contact with the alleged victim.


The police officer bully in this video is Saratoga County (NY) Deputy Shawn Glans. Deputy Glans had no idea he was being recorded when he slapped a man in order to intimidate him into conceding to a warrantless search of his car.

Why did he assault the driver, identified as Colin Fitch? Because he saw a .22 caliber rifle in the back seat of his car.

No reason was given to suspect that the rifle, purchased by Fitch earlier in the day, was illegally owned or in violation of any of the multitude infringements on the Second Amendment by New York. That wasn’t going to Stop Deputy Glans from harassing a gun owner and joking about it. He said Fitch and his friend were wearing dark clothes and “acting suspiciously” in a feeble attempt to justify his actions.

The exchange on the video unfolds as follows:

    Deputy Glans: We’ll get a f*cking search warrant, you want us to do that?

    Fitch: I mean if that’s the route you want to take, but there’s no reason you have to search my car. There’s just no need for it.

    Deputy Glans (to his partner): Okay, lets get a serach warrant.

    Fitch: I wasn’t in my car when all this was happening. Like, why don’t you want to search, like, my house or something

    Deputy Glans: Let me see your f*cking keys!

    Fitch: Why?

    Deputy Glans: Because we’re going to search your f*cking car, that’s why

    Fitch: You can’t do that

    Deputy Glans: Do you want to resist?

    Fitch: I’m not resisting


That’s when the Deputy slaps Fitch while saying “you want to f*cking resist?”. He then took the car keys and threw them to his partner, telling him to search the car.

When Adam Roberts, the passenger in the car who was surreptitiously filming the entire incident, told the deputy “that was intense”, Glans responded by saying, “you like that huh? I can get a lot more intense.”

Roberts asked if he was going to slap him around and the deputy had a few more choice words:

“I’ll rip your head off and sh*t down your neck”

UPDATE: The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office has made a press release announcing that Deputy Glans has been “suspended without pay effective immediately pending the outcome of the investigation and possible disciplinary action”.



http://controversialtimes.com/news/video-officer-who-slapped-legal-gun-owner-over-illegal-search-has-resigned-and-been-arrested/

    Geez!  I wonder how many others were treated like this and not reported...?  This isn't a one off type of thing and what about the other officer involved?  Officer Glans seems to be a d**k head.

So not worthy of wearing a badge.........

I've never encountered a LEO like this. If the driver had done that to the LEO, the driver would be in jail on assault charges and rightly so. This guy should not only lose his job but should be facing assault charges.

I've never encountered a LEO like this. If the driver had done that to the LEO, the driver would be in jail on assault charges and rightly so. This guy should not only lose his job but should be facing assault charges.

You know I've got to admit that I'm 51 years of age and have run afoul of LE a few times in my life and thankfully I've never received more attention than I deserved. It's a b!tch of a job I'll admit I want no part of but this person is a Sargent and has obviously been on the force for a long time thus he knows the difference between right and wrong; he is no longer faithful to his sworn duty of protect and serve the people........ This is pure criminal behavior and abuse of power.....

It seems to be happening more and more lately. Maybe just because we all carry smartphones now.

I think the carrying of smartphones is a huge deal on this. I think it has been happening for a long time. Many times I have heard of people accusing the police of these kinds of actions but they always take the police side of the story. Now with video there is not much of a dispute. I wonder, this guy even know he was being filmed?

I've never encountered a LEO like this. If the driver had done that to the LEO, the driver would be in jail on assault charges and rightly so. This guy should not only lose his job but should be facing assault charges.

If he had slapped the Sargent then he most likely would have been shot.
Because of this vid we all get to see who the real a$$hole is.

LEO job is nasty this is true but still no excuse for these bully tactics. I for one hope he is charge for assault. 

I think the carrying of smartphones is a huge deal on this. I think it has been happening for a long time. Many times I have heard of people accusing the police of these kinds of actions but they always take the police side of the story. Now with video there is not much of a dispute. I wonder, this guy even know he was being filmed?

Based on the sergeant's attitude, if he would have known about the filming, I rather doubt it would have seen the light of day.

Based on the sergeant's attitude, if he would have known about the filming, I rather doubt it would have seen the light of day.

All the more reason that police should be wearing some sort of body camera to keep people from claiming something happened when it didn't and to keep LEO on their best behavior as it seems many are less than civil in their duty.... Also footage that mysteriously disappears should be highly suspect too....

Washington D.C. police are starting to wear them now..

They are doing a trial run of body cams here in SA. I understand their concern for privacy, but, if it is up to the officers to turn them on when they think they need to then what good would it have done in a situation like this where he probably would not have turned it on?

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) -

An officer who was involved in a Monday shooting that left a man hospitalized turned off her body camera just before the incident.

New Orleans police said Officer Lisa Lewis got into a fight with a man during a traffic stop on Mimosa Court in Algiers. During the altercation, she shot 26-year-old Armand Bennet in the forehead.

Bennet's attorney, Nandi Campbell, said her client never resisted, and she claims the officer fired a second shot at her client as he ran away.

The officer's attorney countered that Lewis had turned her body camera off because her shift was about to end and she was on her way back to the Fourth District station when she initiated the traffic stop that led to the shooting.

"What good is the camera if officers are able to take them off and just put them on the side?" Campbell asked. "There's supposed to be some sort of checks and balances, so if we have an officer who has no problems shooting at a man two times. Why should I be surprised that she took the camera off? I'm not surprised at all."

It's unclear yet if there's any other video from the scene.

"We want the officers to wear body cameras when they're engaged with somebody in the public, and we know many times that is going to happen and sometimes things happen very fast and they might not be able to," according to NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas. "But I don't know yet. I haven't seen this case."

Serpas said Lewis and the suspect had gotten into a scuffle a week before Monday's incident, and Bennett got away. He said that prompted the NOPD to issue four different warrants for Bennet, which led to Monday's stop.

The shooting and the events that led up to it are under investigation.

http://www.fox8live.com/story/26283883/officer-involved-in-monday-shooting-had-body-cam-turned-off

I bet officer Wilson from Ferguson MO wished he had a body cam. That technology can cut both ways. It can keep LEO's like this guy more civil and it can protect officers like Wilson from false accusation. It's a technology who's time has come. At a medium resolution at a slower speed can be on and stay on for an entire shift with time index. Take it off when they take off the uniform and have it automatically upload and stay on a server for a week or so. That gives plenty of time for any contested incident to be reviewed. Not that expensive.

Turning off the camera right before you shoot someone is almost an admission of guilt IMHO.

True, it is a problem, however I think the biggest problem is if they don't turn it on in the first place.