Off-duty officer in Trump hat threatens man in St. Joe, put on leave from police duty
A St. Joseph, Missouri police officer who engaged in a verbal altercation with a man who appeared compliant has been placed on administrative duty.
Video of the incident was posted on the social media website TikTok over the weekend.
The video shows the off-duty officer — wearing a blue and white “Trump 2020” hat, a tank top with the name “Harrison” on the back and shorts — in an expletive-laden tirade following a car accident.
The officer was identified by the St. Joseph Police Department as Officer Brandon Harrison, who has been with the department since Jan. 7, 2019.
The video shows a man attempting to speak to a uniformed officer who had arrived at the scene.
Harrison steps towards the man and orders him to sit on the ground. The man asks Harrison to “please get out of my face.”
Harrison tells the man, “I’m not working right now, I’m on vacation. I will f--- you up.”
The uniformed officer then tells the man to follow Harrison’s instructions and the man sits down.
In the video, Harrison accuses the man of lying about what happened during the car accident. No one appeared injured and in a second clip posted by the same TikTok user, Harrison said damage to his truck had been minimal.
Capt. Jeff Wilson said the department had reviewed portions of the video. Harrison has been removed from police duties and placed on administrative duty while the incident is under investigation.
“Unbecoming conduct on the part of police officers adversely affects the operations of the Department and ultimately destroys public confidence in it,” Wilson said in an email.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
