By Police1 Staff
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. — A local sheriff is disputing a column written by a reporter who was recently pulled over and accused officers of mistreating him.
Police pulled over Bill Clark, 84, for failure to signal, the sheriff said on Facebook. Clark, also known as ‘Ol’ Clark,’ stopped at a red stoplight, but claimed he moved when it turned green to avoid blocking traffic at a busy intersection. He was charged with a moving violation.
In his June 30 column, Clark claims the officers were “arrogant” and he was “lucky he didn’t get shot.” He alleged that the deputies only pulled him over because his old car had a “rear bumper full of liberal bumper stickers,” which “probably makes [him] an aging hippie with a weed habit.”
“I’ve just come to appreciate even more the words of those minorities when they speak of harassment and police arrogance,” Clark wrote. “I had a good dose of arrogance on this evening and, in my rear view mirror, the image of the second officer out of the car, his hands ready in case I made the wrong move. My life seemed to be in danger.”
Sheriff Dwayne Carey posted the dash cam footage on the city’s website to dispute Clark’s claims. He said after reading Clark’s piece, he reviewed the video because “‘the video never lies.”
“Ol’ Clark was addressed as sir a number of times and thank you was expressed at least twice,” Carey wrote. “I kept waiting for the ‘official arrogance’ that Ol’ Clark wrote about, but I only observed a professional young deputy do exactly what I expect her to do.”
https://www.facebook.com/BooneCountySD/videos/1427854037304704/
In the video, Clark can be heard becoming argumentative with the deputy, but eventually signs the ticket and drives off.
Carey said he’s not saying Clark “didn’t tell the truth in his column, but I will stand firm on the fact that it didn’t happen the way he said it did.”
“In today’s society we have an abundance of outlets for anyone to say anything, whether it is accurate or not. There is no controlling it and rarely does anyone challenge it, as it seems like a losing battle,” Carey wrote. “I have been guilty of letting things slide myself. Social media reigns supreme for these inaccuracies ... Don’t you think at some point a line needs to be drawn and we have to say, ‘We are simply not going to let people say whatever they want and not hold them accountable?’”