An officer threatens to impound a man’s car unless he bought tickets to a police charity event. NBC10’s George Spencer spoke to the driver of the car that appears in the video on the incident and how the police department feels about the video.
A Philly officer has been pulled from street duty while police investigate whether he tried to extort money from a man he stopped for an alleged traffic violation.
Video appears to show the officer giving a driver an ultimatum: Buy tickets to "The Hero Thrill Show," or your car will get impounded.
"Either you buy these, or I take your car, 'cause it's unregistered," the officer says.
We don't know what happened before of after the video was recorded.
"It's just stupid," said Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said after watching the video. "It's just not good at all. There's nothing about the stop that's good. Period. And I'm not going to even remotely try to justify any of it."
Sources told NBC10's Deanna Durante the officer seen in the video is from the 24th police district. He's on desk duty until the investigation is finished. The video, which the poster said has been online for about 24 hours, had close to 200K hits Friday afternoon.
The officer at one point tells the driver, while holding up tickets for $10 and trying to persuade him to support breast cancer, "You look like a fruitcake."
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NBC10 is not identifying the officer because he has not been charged with a crime.
"The Hero Thrill Show" is being held this year on October 10, 2015 at the Wells Fargo Center. The event helps pay for the children of fallen officers and firefighters to attend college.
