A sergeant from New York’s Saratoga County sheriff’s office resigned Monday amid fallout from a video (below), posted on the Internet, in which he is said to have slapped a man whose car he wanted to search.
Sheriff Michael Zurlo told the Albany Times Union his office began investigating Sgt. Shawn Glans once the video was posted to the department’s Facebook page on Friday night.
Glans, 48, was also charged Monday with one count of official misconduct, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation. He was arraigned the same day.
The second charge states that Glans slapped the man “in the back of the head with an open hand.”
The video was said to be shot by Adam Roberts with the camera on his phone. Roberts’ friend Colin Fitch owned the car.
Glans and other deputies reportedly pulled alongside the men in a Wal-Mart parking lot after responding to a call of a suspicious vehicle in the area. When Glans saw a .22-caliber rifle on the back seat of the car he said he wanted to search the vehicle.
Fitch can be heard in the video saying he doesn’t want to let the officers search the car.
“We'll get a f****ing search warrant,” Glans is heard saying.
When Fitch continues to refuse, Glans grows frustrated.
“Let me see your f****ing keys,” he says, according to Slate.
“I’m going to search your f****ing car, that’s why,” Glans responds after Fitch asks why he wants his keys.
“You wanna f****ing resist?” Glans says. By that time the camera is pointed at the ground and the audible slap can not be seen in the video.
Glans then tosses the keys to an off-camera deputy saying, “Search the f****ing car.”
Attorney Jonna Spilbor told Fox News Insider that Fitch was clearly within his rights to refuse the search without a warrant.
“If you simply see a rifle in the back a car, which every hunter will tell you they're allowed to do, this cop was out of line,” she said, adding that some exceptions could apply.
Zurlo said Glans resigned voluntarily. It was not immediately clear if Glans, who has been an officer for 27 years, knew the criminal charges had been filed against him when he resigned.
"His actions both as a police officer and a sergeant were completely inappropriate," Zurlo said at a press conference Monday. "I am very disturbed. I have zero tolerance for that type of activity.”