Q: I was watching the police video of Dexter Reed incident? Why were their plain clothed officers for a seatbelt violation?
Just like every other normal citizen I don’t have access to all the footage to make a determination of what exactly went down. But in the clip I saw a plain clothed officer point a gun and say get out of the car not announcing he was police at that point. Does that pose a threat to Dexter to reasonably use a handgun against someone who hasn’t identified himself? I understand it was eventually known but when it happens that quick isn’t it human nature to react like that. How does the law play into this. If your wearing plain clothes as an officer aren’t you deemed threatening by any reasonable person especially if you pull a gun and haven’t established your credentials? Please fill me in? I may be wrong!
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A:
Really good questions and insight. Clearly, members of law enforcement can be either in uniform or plain clothes, and of course may make, or participate in traffic stops. They need to announce their office, otherwise it is true that the individual may not even know or realize the individual or individuals are members of law enforcement. Moreover, failure to do so makes it more likely that the individual stopped may react rashly, defensively, or offensively - or flee.
With regard to the Reed case, these are all likely to be important issues in the civil lawsuit that has been filed on his behalf.
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