Oakland County Deputy Vida: Armed Robbery Caught on Tape

A Michigan deputy who spotted a man video recording the parking lot of his agency from a public sidewalk confronted the man, demanding to see his identification.

But the man refused to provide it on the basis that the deputy was unable to state a reasonable suspicion that he had been committing a crime.

Oakland County Sheriff’s Sergeant Tom Vida tried to blame the man for trespassing, accusing him of entering the department’s parking lot to record the license plates of vehicles, which the man flatly denied.

Frustrated when the man refused to give his identification absent an articulated reasonable suspicion of a crime being committed, Deputy Vida armed with his service revolver, reached into the man's pocket and grabbed his wallet. To Deputy Vida's credit, he did give it back after riffling through it.

Does or should the deputy badge protect this act? Please comment.

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Comment by AQUAMAN on June 5, 2015 at 2:29am

Very well stated Willy, I totally agree with all your points. Two wrongs don't make a right. However, the Police officer had several chances to do a lot better to convince the suspect into doing his requests, he acted far too authoritarian. Good thing it wasn't here in Ludington. That suspect would surely be beaten, tased, and locked up if not hospitalized for the same actions. 

Comment by Willy on June 3, 2015 at 1:17pm

I agreed with the person taking this video until he started calling the officers names and swearing at them. If a person is going to confront the police at least be respectful about it.

In my opinion the officer was not only correct in asking questions but had a duty to do so to determine the  motives of the person taking the video, however the officer should have cited what law had been violated and should have just let the person go when he realized there was no violation. The officer had no business touching the person and in my opinion could be charged with assault. This demonstrates a real problem with  police who consider their authority absolute. They treat everyone as a potential criminal and act accordingly.

Of course the officers have been trained to react this way so this demonstrates an attitude that starts at the top of the chain of command.

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