missouri's finest

New Video Shows Darren Wilson Threatening to Arrest a Guy for Filming Him

While it’s hardly the most disturbing police footage out there, a newly released video of Darren Wilson seems to show that the cop who shot Mike Brown is willing to abuse his power and lie about it later. In the 15-second clip (recorded in 2013 and upload to YouTube on Friday), Wilson can be seen standing in front of the videographer, Mike Arman, who was in trouble for having broken-down cars in his yard. “If you wanna take a picture of me one more time, I’m gonna lock your ass up,” Wilson says. Arman, who is on his own front porch and has just requested Wilson’s name, asks him, “Do I not have the right to record?” Wilson replies, “No, no, you don’t,” which is completely untrue.

Wilson ended up arresting Arman for “failure to comply and breaching regulations on pit bull dogs,” though Arman says the second charge was dropped because his pet is actually a bulldog. The Guardian notes that Wilson’s report of the incident contained a few more inconsistencies:

Wilson wrote in his report that Arman became upset and said he wanted to record the encounter. Wilson said he told him “a voice recording would be acceptable” but Arman “refused to answer any questions or co-operate as he lifted the phone to begin a video recording of myself” and “stated that I must state my name to him” as Wilson asked for more information on the vehicles.

Arman disputed Wilson’s account of the start of their encounter, saying that he “began recording within moments of Wilson approaching the property” and that Wilson only mentioned a voice recording being acceptable after Arman had been arrested.

Despite being shown at the other end of Arman’s garden path, Wilson wrote in his report that he told Arman “to remove the camera from my face”. He claimed to have asked Arman to place his hands behind his back, which is not visible or audible from the recording. “I was forced to grab his wrists one at a time and secure them into handcuffs,” Wilson wrote.

The Guardian also points out that Arman has a criminal record and had been charged with resisting arrest in the past, though the video suggests that he was polite during his encounter with Wilson. If Wilson avoids indictment and returns to work (as is expected), he should probably get used to the idea of civilians recording their interactions with him.

Darren Wilson Threatened Man for Filming Him