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Title: Father & 7yo daughter held at gunpoint by ‘insane & violent’ police officer
Source:
Russia Today
URL Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/355930-arizona-police-gunpoint-car/
Published: Aug 14, 2016
Author: RT
Post Date: 2016-08-15 14:08:31 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 7050
Comments: 66
A father and his young daughter claim they were terrorized by a highway patrolman in Arizona while they were en route to the Grand Canyon on Friday. Ken Walton, who is from California, described the horrifying ordeal in a lengthy Facebook post where he and his 7-year-old daughter were held at gunpoint after being pulled over by the out-of-control highway patrolman. “Tonight, I was arrested at gunpoint by an Arizona highway patrol officer who threatened to shot me in the back (twice) in front of my 7-year-old daughter. For a moment, I was certain he was going to kill me for no reason,” he wrote. Walton had been making his way to the Grand Canyon in a rented car when he was pulled over by the Arizona Highway Patrol who had been tailing him for a few miles. “I hadn’t been speeding so I wondered if perhaps the car had a broken taillight or something. I rolled down my window and waited,” he said. Rather than approach the driver’s side, the officer instead “rapped on the rear passenger side window with his pistol.” His daughter who was “sitting inches from the barrel of his gun, jumped with fear as the officer yelled at me to roll down the front passenger window, his service weapon pointed directly at me.” READ MORE: Fla. police shoot unarmed therapist lying on ground beside patient w/ autism (VIDEOS) While the police officer continued to shout orders, the young passenger panicked and attempted to get out of her booster seat to roll down the front window. It was at this point that the agitated officer screamed at her and pointed his gun at her. Walton said he then exited the car he assumed the position to be arrested at gunpoint. “Then, as I had my hands in the air, he yelled, at the top of his lungs in a voice I will never forget, as my daughter looked on in terror, ‘Get your hands away from your waist or I’ll blow two holes through your back right now!” The father said he was “utterly terrified,” at this stage. “I’ve heard stories of police yelling out false things like this before they unjustifiably attack someone as a way to justify the attack and I thought this was what was happening to me. I braced for bullets to hit me and all I could think of was my daughter having to watch it happen and being left alone on the side of the highway with an insane, violent cop.” After being arrested, he was placed in the back of the police car and Walton then confronted the officer for threatening to kill him. He also got the patrolman’s name - Oton Villegas - and his badge number. “He stood by his story that I had made a threatening movement toward my waist, and I said it wasn’t true, and he said this wasn’t the place to discuss it. He let me go attend to my daughter but continued to ‘detain’ us for another 20 minutes as he talked to his supervisors, presumably plotting damage control.” The dad is now deciding on if he will take legal action, but added that his daughter was “thoroughly traumatized by the event.” In March, a police officer was charged with second-degree murder after shooting dead an unarmed 26-year-old man in Arizona. Body camera footage of the incident, which took place in January, confirmed the victim, Daniel Shaver, pleading with the officer not to shoot him as he crawled along the hallway outside his room at the La Quinta Inn in Mesa. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 60.
#1. To: Deckard (#0)
The relationship of the police to the people in this country is coming to a head.
"Mr. Walton has every right to be angry and we support him in his anger.. however, we just feel he needs to direct it in the right place, which is, this never would've happened if this rental company would've removed the plates like they were supposed to," said DPS Captain Damon Cecil. As it urns out, the car wasn't stolen and neither was the plate. The rental company just didn't remove the plate being registered as stolen. “AZ DPS understands and sympathizes with the concerns the family has regarding this situation,” stated Captain Ezekiel Zesiger, Flagstaff District Commander. “Anytime a police contact is made for a possibly stolen vehicle our troopers are trained to take all necessary precautions. In this instance, the vehicle's license plate was reported as stolen. Troopers must adhere to their training in regards to conducting a high risk traffic stop in these types of situations. Training and protocols are in place for the safety of the Trooper as well as the safety of citizens. Fortunately, the subject in this case was compliant with the trooper and the situation ended peacefully with no one being harmed.” The relationship with cops and people driving stolen cars is never been all huggie kissie.
The car wasn't stolen. But don't let that stop you from licking the boots of the psychopath who terrorized this family.
It had plates that were filed by the rental company as STOLEN... why didn't your piece of Shit scumbag fucking article even mention that ONCE? Traveling behind the vehicle, how does the officer know it's not stolen, dickhead? You're a real price of work. You anarchist pile of worthless flesh.
Yet the plates that were reported stolen were attached to a car from the very same rental company. The cop couldn't figure out for himself that the car was not stolen? I'm surprised he doesn't chuck it all and start his own think tank. And the coward pointed a gun at a 7 year old girl. I wonder if the coward pissed his pants.
The cop couldn't figure out for himself that the car was not stolen? There was only one (1) car and (1) plate. It was still on the same car. No, the cop could not figure out for himself that the car was not stolen. The officer ran the plate and the system returned that it was stolen. That is the information he acted upon. Fox Rent a Car reports that the vehicle, "was reported stolen in California with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department on 11/12/15," and that the vehicle "was recovered by the Oakland Police Department on 11/17/15 and the vehicle was cleared by the Oakland Police Department on that same day to return to the rental fleet." It appears someone dropped the ball and never updated the computer system. The arresting officer is not the one at fault. It appears that the fault belongs to the Oakland, California police department. Walton says he does not plan to file a formal complaint. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/190910030-story A California man's vacation to Arizona is one he won't soon forget, but not necessarily in a good way. FOX 10's Marc Martinez reports. By: FOX 10 Staff Posted: Aug 14 2016 02:49PM MST Updated: Aug 15 2016 11:00PM MST WILLIAMS, Ariz. (KSAZ) - A California man's vacation here in Arizona is one he won't soon forget, but not necessarily in a good way. Kenneth Walton says he was pulled over by a Department of Public Safety trooper near the Grand Canon after the license plates on his rental car came back as stolen -- and it's what happened next that has blown up on social media. It was supposed to be a memorable trip for Walton and his 7-year-old daughter -- a trip to the Grand Canyon. But before getting there, Walton says something unexpected happened. He was pulled over along Interstate 40. "I wasn't speeding or doing anything wrong, I thought, so I just turned to her and said don't worry." Moments later, the DPS trooper, with his gun drawn, approached the vehicle and demanded that he open the passenger side window and according to Walton, that's when he pointed the gun right at his daughter. "My daughter was trying to help, so she lurched forward out of her booster to try to get to the front seat so open it and he yelled at her and waived his pistol in front of her to stay down and sit down and not move," said Walton. Frightened and nervous, Walton tried calming his little girl before he was ordered out of the car at gunpoint. "My hands were in the air and he said stop reaching at your waist or I'll blow two holes in your back," said Walton. "During that time, our trooper saw him reach or lower his hand to his waist band and he told him do not put your hand in your waist band or I will shoot you," said Capt. Damon Cecil, who says his trooper was unaware that a little girl was in the car at the time. Cecil says any traffic stop involving a stolen vehicle can be very dangerous. As it turns out, the rental car agency made a mistake and Walton and his daughter were free to go, but he later took to Facebook to air his displeasure with how DPS handled the situation. It quickly went viral, but DPS says Walton should be angry at the rental car company and not them. "Mr. Walton has every right to be angry and we support him in his anger, however we just feel he needs to direct it in the right place which this never would have happened if the rental car had removed the plates like they were supposed to," said Cecil. Walton says he is just looking for an apology from DPS and the rental car company. He says he's still trying to explain to his daughter what exactly happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "(Walton's) anger is directed at the wrong people. We were not the ones that reported the plates stolen and we were not the ones that did not switch out those," Capt. Damon Cecil with the Department of Public Safety. "The rental car company was." The trooper also maintains Walton disobeyed his commands and moved his hands toward his waist, which prompted him to threaten to shoot. Walton was detained for a short period of time and released once it was determined the car wasn't stolen. DPS said they've looked into Walton's allegations and said a dispatch recording of the officer before and after the incident tells a different story. "We listened to that," Cecil said. "We didn’t hear a trooper that was out of control." 12 News reached out to Fox Rent A Car and they sent this statement: The vehicle in question was registered in Arizona, and, along with the one and only rear plate (as issued/required by the state of Arizona) was reported stolen in California with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department on 11/12/15. The vehicle, with the one and only corresponding rear Arizona plate, was recovered by the Oakland Police Department on 11/17/15 and the vehicle was cleared by the Oakland Police Department on that same day to return to the rental fleet. Oakland's Police Department must have been unaware that Arizona does not issue front license plates when they issued their "stolen plate" report. However, we are surprised that the Arizona Department of Public Safety would suggest that Fox is somehow responsible for replacing a front Arizona plate the never existed." Walton said he doesn't plan to file a formal complaint with the department about the issue and DPS disagrees with the man's decision to post online about the incident. "We get that Mr. Walton is angry and upset, scared and that his daughter was scared, but that does not give you the right to act irresponsibly," Cecil said. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#61. To: nolu chan (#60)
Hmmm, no video? My money is on the cop being a lair. Oh - and a coward. ...the officer executed a high-risk traffic stop. Yeah, must be S.O.P to draw down on a 7-year-old child strapped in a car seat. The cop is not a coward - he's a psychotic scumbag coward.
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#7. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Per the DPS report, "Initially the driver, identified as Kenneth Walton, was not responding to officer’s commands while seated in his vehicle so the trooper moved up the passenger-side window and got the occupant’s attention by tapping on the window with his hand. It was at this time the trooper realized there was a child in the car as she sat up into view. Mr. Walton was ordered out of the car and detained in handcuffs while the trooper conducted his investigation. The investigation concluded the rental company had not replaced the vehicle plates when the front plate was reported stolen and Mr. Walton and his daughter were released from the scene."
#9. To: GrandIsland (#7)
The relationship with cops and people driving stolen cars
#28. To: Deckard (#9)
The car wasn't stolen.
#36. To: Gatlin, GrandIsland, hondo68 (#28)
It had plates that were filed by the rental company as STOLEN...
#60. To: Deckard, GrandIsland (#36)
Yet the plates that were reported stolen were attached to a car from the very same rental company.
Man claims he was arrested at gunpoint on Facebook; DPS responds to viral post
DPS is standing by the officer's actions and said because the plate registered as stolen, the officer executed a high-risk traffic stop. The patrol vehicle didn't have a dash cam and there is no body camera video of the incident.
"We have completed our internal investigation of Mr. Walton's unfortunate August 11th traffic stop by an Arizona State Trooper. According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety's August 13th press release, "the rental company had not replaced the vehicle plates when the front plate was stolen…” however, their assertion is completely mistaken because the state of Arizona does not even issue front license plates.
Replies to Comment # 60. "During that time, our trooper saw him reach or lower his hand to his waist band..."
End Trace Mode for Comment # 60.
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