A man driving through Winfield, Kan., went live on Facebook during a traffic stop last Sunday after cops told him he was being pulled over for allegedly failing to signal a turn within 100 feet. But what should have been a citation or warning led to Rudy Samuel being detained because of “vegetation” on his windshield.
When the cop told Samuel that he noticed the flora on the windshield, Samuel couldn’t believe what he was hearing, because it was just tree debris. The unidentified cop told Samuel that he was going to test the “vegetation,” and Samuel informed him that he doesn’t even smoke.
And that’s when things took a left turn.
The officer returned from his car—without testing the “vegetation”—and told Samuel to get out. Samuel said he wanted the officer to run the test first.
“I’ll test it here in a little bit, OK, I ain’t got to test it right now,” the officer replied. After Samuel asked the officer why he had to get out, the video showed the officer forcibly removing him.
Although Samuel was no longer holding the phone to capture the video, the cop could be heard saying that the car was going to be searched. Samuel stated that he did not give them permission. You could also hear Samuel telling the officer that he had a legal firearm in the middle console of his car, and then the video stopped. Samuel said it was because the cop turned off the recording.
“Yea straight stereotyped me he grab[bed] my phone I told him he better get a warrant for it so he powered it off,” Samuel wrote on Facebook.
According to CT News, Winfield’s Police Chief Brett Stone says that the incident is being investigated. Of course, no drugs were found, and Samuel was sent off with just a warning and his life.