An undercover Minnesota cop was caught on camera threatening a man and shoving his camera into his face when asked for his badge number after he and his partner mistook him for a vulnerable missing person.
“911,” officer Benny Williams told 36-year-old St. Paul resident Andrew Casey before physically confronting him.
“I work for St. Paul police, bitch,” Williams added.
Williams also threatened to tow Casey’s legally parked car for recording him, and spat on him.
“Put it in my face again, and I’m gonna slap you down,” Williams can be heard threatening Casey in the 20-second video posted to his Facebook page.
Williams has since made a video apologizing.
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said Williams’ actions do not meet the standard of delivering trusted service with respect, but later went on to praise Officer Williams for his video apology, which was posted to the St. Paul Police Department’s Facebook page along with the original video.
“I’m very passionate about what I do, and today I just had a human moment where I just said some things that just were not professional,” Williams explains.
“I want to apologize to this individual. It doesn’t represent who I am or my organization, the St. Paul Police Department.”
Casey, however, isn’t buying it.
“That’s not an apology, that’s a statement into the air,” he said adding he didn’t believe Williams’ apology was genuine because he didn’t offer it to him directly.
Casey, a painter and photographer, was on his way to a friend’s house after work on Thursday when he parked and observed a car pulling up.
He then realized it was an unmarked squad car with two plain-clothed undercover officers inside.
“Hey, do you live here?” one of them shouted.
Casey remained silent and continued walking.
“I have no legal obligation to talk to an officer when I’m walking down the street, nor did I even know where this was coming from,” Casey told TwinCities.com Friday.
“He didn’t identify himself or anything for that matter. I didn’t answer the first time.”
Williams blamed his actions on his passion for his job and being human.
“I’m very passionate about what I do and today I just had a human moment where I just said some things that just were not professional.”
Williams has not yet been fired.
