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February 20, 2015

Video: St. Louis Cop Turns Off Dash Cam as Officers Kick Driver 
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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.