The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. February 20, 2015 Video: St. Louis Cop Turns Off Dash Cam as Officers Kick Driver ---------------------------------------------------------------- In Missouri, a St. Louis police officer has been suspended after turning off a dashboard camera as her colleagues were kicking and tasing an African-American man during a traffic stop. Cortez Bufford has filed suit against police over the April arrest. Video shows police dragging Bufford from the car, then kicking and tasing him. At one point he shouts, "I can't move." Then, using the slang term "red," to mean the dashboard camera is rolling, Officer Kelli Swinton tells her colleagues to wait while she turns it off. Kelli Swinton: "Hold up! Hold up, y'all! Hold up! Hold up! Everybody hold up. We're red right now, so if you guys are worried about cameras, just wait." The video then abruptly stops. Police, who had received a call about shots fired in the area, accused Bufford of speeding, making an illegal U-turn and abruptly parking. They say an officer kicked him to prevent him from reaching for a gun, which they say they found in his pocket. But all charges against Bufford were dropped after the prosecutor saw the footage. Police Chief Sam Dotson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he does not believe the officers did anything wrong. In addition to Swinton, he suspended a sergeant who was supervising the scene — for one day.