The Missouri cop who pointed an assault rifle at demonstrators during the 2014 Ferguson protests, telling them “I will fucking kill you,” only to end up fired after the video went viral, is now whining that his life is “ruined.”
But only because he is at risk of losing his law enforcement license.
Not because he is facing any actual criminal charges, which would be the case had he not been granted Blue Privilege.
Ray Albers, who was a lieutenant for the St. Ann Police Department, tried to defend his actions Wednesday during a state Department of Public Safety administrative hearing by claiming he did not point his weapon at anybody in particular.
He was only waving it around in the interest of public safety, he argued. And for his own safety, of course.
“I never pointed my rifle at anyone,” Albers testified, according to the Huffington Post.
“I was using that scope with the laser to find that individual with a weapon. Like I said, those people came towards me.”
That excuse would have worked perfectly had their not been video cameras everywhere because cops understand that their word is Gospel.
But there was no individual with a weapon besides Albers and the rest of the cops, one who had to calm Albers down by leading him away – an action that would have never happened had their truly been an individual with a weapon threatening cops.
According to the Huffington Post:
“I seen about a half a dozen black males come out of the east side of Sam’s Meat Market. They all had bandanas wrapped around their face, like an outlaw-type bandana,” Albers testified. “Two of them at least [who] came out had Molotov cocktails. The other one had a handgun… ready to go.”
However, in each of the three videos played during the hearing, Albers can be seen pointing his gun toward various people in the crowd. At no point does he appear to be pursuing the supposed “man with a gun” he describes — in fact, no such man can be seen in the videos. Albers was also a long distance away from Sam’s Meat Market at the point when he claims to have seen individuals carrying Molotov cocktails and a handgun.
If only there had been no cameras, he would have been granted an award for his heroism instead of having to fight for his law enforcement license more than a year after the incident, which would have landed anybody else in jail that very night.
Albers’ frustation is that he is the only Missouri cop to lose his law enforcement license during the Ferguson protests, even though countless cops committed similar, if not worse, aggravations.
Albers and his lawyer, Brandi Barth, offered several different defenses for his actions that night. Barth argued it was “unfair” to make Albers “the poster child” for bad policing during the Ferguson protests, and showed off photos of a number of other officers pointing rifles at protesters. Indeed, St. Louis County officers stationed on top of armored vehicles even pointed their sniper rifles at crowds of peaceful protesters in broad daylight a few days after Brown’s death, a tactic that drew widespread condemnation.
“There’s selective enforcement against Mr. Albers, in a situation where we have now seen at least a dozen officers in the selected photos having their rifles raised,” Barth said. “This situation of 30 seconds in a 20-year career has literally ruined his life.”
But there is still a chance he may be a cop again. The state administrative board will make its decision in a few months because the wheels of justice turn excruciating slow when it comes to cops who kill or threaten to kill.
But this is the cop who told protesters his name was “Officer Go Fuck Yourself” after protesters asked his name.
It’s too bad the state administrative board can’t tell him the same.
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