A driver’s dashcam video posted to YouTube on Sunday appeared to show an off-duty detective threatening to kill a driver during a stop in a town near Boston.
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“I’ll put a hole right through your f–g head”, the detective is heard saying twice.
The incident happened Sunday night in Medford, a few miles north of downtown Boston. LeBert was off duty and wearing camouflage shorts and a tank top at the time of the incident.
Michael then shifts his vehicle into reverse and backs away from LeBert, who had not yet verbally identified himself as a police officer.
“He wasn’t driving a police vehicle”.
The driver says he was scared, initially backing up only because he feared getting shot.
“He jumped out of his truck, and he yells that he’s gonna blow my brains out”. The detective continued yelling. “You’re lucky I’m a cop or I’d beat the f*cking piss out of you right now”.
Here’s the full transcript of the conversation between Lebert and Mike.
Minutes later, a Medford Police officer arrives and tells Michael how to go about appealing LeBert’s citation for driving to endanger.
But Sacco added that he had personally reprimanded LeBert over the 2012 video, in which a man used his cellphone to record police as they interacted with his brother.
“Based on what I saw, I am troubled”, Saco told WBZ-TV.
The driver’s dashcam recorded the entire interaction with the detective and the video was posted later that day.
Mike mentions that he was recording the traffic stop with a dashcam and Lebert responds by threatening to take the camera, which is generally illegal for police to do without a warrant, although he didn’t end up following through with the threat.
Lebert said he had not seen the video and declined comment.
“He’s done a lot of good, this was an unfortunate incident last night and emotions may have gotten in the way”, Sacco said.
A video surfaced late Monday of a 2012 incident involving LeBert, The Globe reported. He’s smiling and attempting to smear the lens of a camera.
Lebert was counseled for his inappropriate actions that the chief said resulted from frustration with dealing with someone the police regularly run into. Mike again explains how Lebert had threatened him, but the officer continues to show no concern at all.
Nonetheless, Sacco said he considers LeBert to be an effective, determined police officer who is fully committed to helping people who become victims of crimes. “Just two weeks ago he solved seven housebreaks”.
During the confrontation at the doorway of the neighbor’s house, Richard LeBert hit a person in the head with his flashlight, Sacco said.
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“That’s not proper behavior, but we only know about it when people tell us”, Sacco told CNN affiliate WFXT. “And unfortunately, we had to get up this morning and see it on a YouTube video”.
