Columbus cop threatens to shoot complying driver

A Columbus police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after he threatened to "empty a magazine" into the car of a male driver who was complying on a traffic stop.

On Aug. 18, Columbus officer Keith Dowd pulled over a black, soft top Camaro convertible, driven by an unidentified male, on a side road in Columbus, allegedly for speeding.

Body camera footage of the 13-minute stop, obtained by The Commercial Dispatch, shows Dowd threatening to arrest the driver and accuses him of doing drugs. The driver's hands are on the steering wheel through the majority of the stop. He repeatedly answered Dowd with "Yes, sir" and "No, sir." He never raises his voice and, after being threatened, admits to using marijuana.

A check on his driver's license by Dowd came back "valid, no history."

He was never issued a ticket.

Dowd is white. The driver is black.

The driver, who is not being identified by name by the city, filed an official complaint against Dowd on Wednesday morning, according to Columbus Mayor Robert Smith.

Smith said the driver is 20 years old.

In the complaint, the driver said he felt "nervous" and was "verbally insulted and harassed" and Dowd "forced me to lie to him."

Dowd was first issued a written reprimand after the incident. However, after seeing the footage, Smith said Wednesday he planned to "issue a directive" to Police Chief Oscar Lewis to place Dowd on paid administrative leave "immediately."

In a memo to Lewis, Smith said there may have been two other incidents where "Officer Dowd has exhibited similar behavior on at least two other traffic stops."

"I also believe Officer Dowd is a threat to the citizens of this community and I want him off the streets now," the memo stated.

Smith said the issue will be discussed during executive session when the City Council meets Tuesday night.

Dowd, a recent hire to the Columbus Police Department, is on probation for the first year of his employment, Smith said.

Dowd was employed as an officer with the Jackson Police Department from 2002 to 2008, according to JPD spokesperson Cmdr Tyree Jones.

Dowd was also employed as an officer with the University of Mississippi Medical Center from November 2014 to April 2017, according to UMMC director of public affairs Marc Rolph. Rolph declined to say if Dowd was eligible for rehire, citing policy.

In 2015, Wolfcam Police Body Worn Cameras quoted Dowd on their Facebook page. Dowd described an incident where he worked at UMMC and felt the need for a body camera.

“Once upon a time a police officers’ word was golden, but now people question everything," Dowd said in the post. "Now it is far easier to have that camera as back up for incidents where people were acting disorderly and not acting right. Now we have that video behind it if we needed it."

At the beginning of the his body cam footage from the August stop, Dowd approaches the vehicle and accuses the driver of driving at nearly twice the speed limit.

However, according to city spokesman Joe Dillon, Dowd's patrol car is not equipped with radar to detect speed.

The two talk briefly, with Dowd asking the driver where he was going and what he does for a living. The driver replies he goes to school and played football at East Mississippi Community College and works at a grocery store.

Dowd asks the young man to whom the Camero belongs, noting that it was a "$30,000 car" and asking him if the owner knows he "drives like an idiot."

Dowd then asks the driver to "stick out your tongue."

"One other day we're going to have a discussion 'cause I also know you smoke things you ain't supposed to be smoking," Dowd said.

Dowd tells the driver that he used to work with JPD and is a "DUI Drug Interdiction Expert." He also claimed to have spent "20 years as a New York City paramedic."

"I'm considered an expert in city, county, state and federal court. Pretty much, if I tell a judge this is what I honestly believe, pretty much you're guilty 'cause I'm that good."

The driver tells Dowd he smokes "Black and Mild" before Dowd says, "You smoke weed. You still do. I can tell by the coloration of your tongue."

Dowd then threatens to call a detective to the scene and "scrape your tongue and we'll charge you with possession of marijuana by a driver."

Dowd accuses the driver of lying to him, then threatens to call the driver's school and "get him thrown off the team."

With his hands on the wheel, the driver apologizes, repeatedly calling Dowd "sir."

"I know where you go to school now, I know who owns the car," Dowd said. "Actually, I could just take the car, impound it, actually, and let your girlfriend come get it and then I'll just call the dean over at the college and say, 'Uh, yeah, Don't do the piss test, draw his blood.'"

The driver then tells Dowd he's already graduated.

Dowd said the driver lied to him, saying, "That's the nice thing about wearing body cameras — everything you say — plus I have a really good memory."

"Do you want to try this nonsense one more time or do you want to see how ugly I can be? Right now, instead of writing the ticket, I can just take you to jail and impound the car. Writing the ticket is a courtesy so we don't fill the jail full of stop sign runners and speeders."

After a back and forth, the driver then moves his left hand from the top of the steering wheel and resting it at the bottom of the wheel. His right hand remains on top of the wheel.

"Don't take your hand down off the steering wheel," Dowd said, raising his voice.

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry," the driver replies.

"Listen to me," Dowd said, "I don't play this Columbus stuff. I'm used to Jackson so when you start acting all squirrelly and you start dropping your hands, I don't play that. You understand me?"

The driver responds with a "yes, sir" and apologizes, telling him he's never been "in this situation" before.

"I swear, my record is clean, I'm a good person," he said.

"You're not a good person," Dowd responded. "You smoke weed and you're running through city streets twice the dang speed limit."

Dowd then asks the driver if there is any weed in the car, citing "the look you gave."

He then lies to the driver and says the K9 unit is "already on its way."

Dowd threatens the driver again. The driver then asks the officer, "Is there a reason for this?"

"You're not being honest with me," Dowd responded.

"I'm not trying to have a bad day, I'm not trying to be a bad person to you, sir. This is my first time being in this situation," the driver said.

"Then say, 'Yes, officer, I do smoke weed," Dowd commanded. The driver said, "Yes, officer, I do smoke weed."

Dowd then says he has "probable cause" to take the driver "out of the car for speeding and all the other offenses because once the dog gets here, more than likely he'll smell it off of you."

The driver's right hand moves from the wheel, his left hand still on the steering wheel. He tells Dowd 'It's an ashtray right here."

"Man, listen to me, next time you reach, it's going to get ugly because you're kind of appearing to me to be the twitchy type of person who has done something wrong or you got something, listen to me, so all this reaching and grabbing whatever, I guarantee you, before you think you can do something, I can empty a magazine into the car. You understand that? Do you believe that?"

The driver responds, "Yes, sir."

"Stop reaching, do not reach again."

Dowd then tells the driver to "take a nice deep breath and breathe" before asking him "Is there anything in this car that a police officer would want to know about?"

"There's just an ashtray in here, sir."

"There's no bags? Think hard."

"Just an ashtray, sir."

A dispatcher can be heard on Dowd's radio, telling another officer that Dowd will join them as soon as he finishes the traffic stop.

Dowd then then tells the driver he's getting off with "a whole bunch of warnings" but added, "Let me catch you out riding or riding dirty and the next time i take you, the car and everything else."

"Do you understand me? Do you believe me when I tell you this?

"You need to straighten out your act and you need to give up the weed because I know the last time you smoked and I don't appreciate being lied to. I don't appreciate people speeding on my beat. Do you have any questions about any of that or would you prefer the ticket to argue about it in court?"

The driver then responded, "No, sir" before being told he was "free to go."

Smith said he trusted the city's law enforcement officers but said, "in this specific case, the officer misused his trust, he misused his authority and he misused his position as a Columbus police officer."

Smith said he felt the driver was "courteous" throughout the video and said the situation could have had a very different ending.

"Most kids at 20 years of age, they would have just said, 'Hey, do what you have to do.' It could have a been a bad situation with the wrong individual. I'm just happy that the (driver) kept his cool."

Smith said he couldn't speak to whether the stop was racially motivated but feels the driver was "definitely" mistreated.

"He was a citizen that, I would say, was mistreated by a police officer.

"No citizen, regardless of race creed or color should be treated the way this guy was treated."

Contact Sarah Fowler at 601-961-7303 or sfowler@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.