At first, Kenneth Walton thought the Arizona state trooper following him and his 7-year-old daughter wanted to warn him of a broken taillight.
They were in a rental car, on a stretch of Interstate 40 between Las Vegas and Flagstaff, Ariz., on what was supposed to be a fun Grand Canyon vacation. It was dark, and Walton knew he hadn’t been speeding, so — not thinking much of it — he pulled over on an off-ramp, rolled down his driver’s side window and waited.
That’s when things went “terribly awry,” according to the San Francisco man’s account of what happened last Thursday.
“Tonight, I was arrested at gunpoint by an Arizona highway patrol officer who threatened to shoot me in the back (twice) in front of my 7-year-old daughter,” Walton wrote on Facebook, hours after the incident. “For a moment, I was certain he was going to kill me for no reason. I’m alive, and I need to share the story.”
His post, published early Friday morning and updated throughout the weekend, went viral, serving as a lightning rod for discussions about what is appropriate during interactions with law enforcement.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety confirmed that the traffic stop took place but disputed the tone and some of the details in Walton’s Facebook post, calling it “inflammatory” and “irresponsible.” The department is standing by the trooper’s actions, including his threat to shoot Walton during the traffic stop, said Capt. Damon Cecil of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
“We sympathize with them; I don’t think there’s any law enforcement official who would not be just as angry, just as fearful and terrorized if [they were in a similar situation and] officers had guns pointed out,” Cecil told The Washington Post. “It’s a scary situation. But in light of that, this is a positive story. … This case is a prime example of how things should be done.”
According to the DPS, the traffic stop occurred around 7:43 p.m. on Aug. 11, after the license plate on Walton’s rental car came up as stolen. The trooper requested backup and followed the rental car on the Interstate 40 until it exited the highway.
The trooper then approached the car with his gun drawn — actions the department said are appropriate for anything considered a “high-risk traffic stop … when serious crimes or hazardous conditions may exist.”
“Initially the driver, identified as Kenneth Walton, was not responding to officer’s commands while seated in his vehicle so the trooper moved up the passenger-side window and got the occupant’s attention by tapping on the window with his hand,” DPS said in a short statement. “It was at this time the trooper realized there was a child in the car as she sat up into view. Mr. Walton was ordered out of the car and detained in handcuffs while the trooper conducted his investigation.”
The trooper, identified as Oton Villegas, has been with DPS since 2009, the department said. Villegas has not had major disciplinary actions. In 2013, he was named along with several other officers in a civil rights lawsuit that was settled and dismissed without prejudice, Cecil said.
According to Walton, however, the department’s account is inaccurate: He says the first command came when the trooper tapped on the front passenger window, gun in hand, not before. In addition, Walton said his daughter was sitting in a booster seat in the rear passenger side of the vehicle, not in the front, and was in view — not crouched or reclined — the entire time.
Walton said the DPS statement omitted or downplayed details about how the incident unfolded, including how the trooper (referred to by Walton as an “officer”) interacted with his young daughter.
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SOURCE: Amy B Wang
The Washington Post