With blatant disregard for safety, a Utah cop was caught on video getting into the face of a man and yelling about his perceived bad attitude.
“I do not need to give you a social distance, do you understand that,” said the cop – who was not wearing a face mask – as he invaded the man’s personal space as cops love to do in the hopes of sparking a physical altercation.
The man, Ryan Flaska – who was wearing a face mask – said he had been snow boarding when he was confronted by the cop who accused him of trespassing. But Flaska said he was not trespassing and despite the cop’s threats, was never arrested or cited.
The video shows he was trying his best to distance himself from the cop without doing anything that might get him killed.
The cop, who is from the Unified Police Department (UPD) of Greater Salt Lake, is now under investigation by the Salt Lake Sheriff’s Office, which overseas the Unified police force. But in true protective fashion, his name has not been released. The incident took place last weekend and the video was posted to Instagram on Monday.
According to KSL:
In the video, a police officer is seen yelling at another man, asking him “how far do you think I’m going to tolerate your attitude?”
The police officer also says “trespassing is trespassing” to the man, and later says he is doing the man the benefit of “trying to get permission from somebody.”
The man asks the police officer to stand six feet away from him to observe social distancing measures, to which the officer replies “I do not need to give you a social distance.”
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The officer also tells the man he “invited this” on himself, before telling the man to “shut your (expletive) mouth.”
A female officer is also seen in the video asking the person filming to stop. The cameraman replies that it’s his right to film, and the officer says, “OK.”
Flaska posted the following commentary along with his video:
Let me make this perfectly clear, we were in no way trespassing. We were just snowboarding. This officer (badge number 52-“delta”) was completely out of line. By conducting yourself in this manner you make everyone in your department and every officer that wears that badge of honor an absolute disgrace. You should be ashamed to call yourself an officer of the law. When you lie about laws you’re sworn to uphold, you’ve not only lost yourself but every piece of dignity that deserves any bit of respect from your fellow officers. I am appalled by your actions and I hope you take a good long hard look in the mirror and figure out exactly what the hell you’re doing. One thing you are NOT DOING is your job!!!!!! I won’t even get into the blatant disregard for public health. I’ll let the public comment on that.. #serveandprotectnotharassandabuse
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera issued a statement saying, “We do not condone this type of language from our officers.”
But it’s not the language that should be the main concern here. It was the way the cop put the man’s life in danger by getting into his face and yelling. It also placed his own life in danger because he had no way of knowing if the man was affected with the coronavirus. So much for officer safety.
Had it been the other way around, the man would surely have been facing assault charges. Watch the video below.
