A US policeman has been suspended indefinitely after he pointed an assault rifle at protesters in Ferguson, Missouri and threatened to kill them.
The officer, identified as Lt. Ray Albers, a 20-year veteran, has been relieved of duty after he pointed his semiautomatic weapon at peaceful protesters and reporters on Tuesday night, according to Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department.
A video that recorded the encounter and went viral Wednesday shows the officer cursing and pointing his rifle in the direction of the camera, telling protesters, “I will [expletive] kill you.”
Protesters can be heard urging the officer to lower his weapon. One police sergeant can be seen lowering the officer’s weapon and escorting him away from the area.
The man in charge of maintaining security in Ferguson, State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, considers this officer’s actions an insult to all those who have done things the right way.
“I was disturbed by it, I was bothered by it, and I was disrespected by it,” Johnson said about the threatening encounter.
This is not the first time unarmed protesters in Ferguson have accused police of pointing guns at them. Reporters have seen similar incidents first-hand that weren’t caught on tape.
Antonio French, a St. Louis city alderman who has been a fixture at the Ferguson demonstrations, said he is not surprised by the video given what he’s seen the past two weeks.
The incident of the police threatening to kill people comes at a time when protesters are demanding charges against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the August 9 fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teen.
Protesters hit the streets of Ferguson once again on Wednesday night in a peaceful march to once again demand justice for Brown. The demonstrators called for an immediate arrest of the killer cop.
