Video: 4 Black Officers Held at Gunpoint

Dash-cam footage obtained by The Journal News in upstate New York shows cops holding four black state parole officers at gunpoint last April. The footage, shot in Rockland County’s Ramapo, reveals an officer immediately pointing a gun at the car, which was later identified as state-owned, and a second officer reaching into the driver’s side of the vehicle. The parole officers were ordered out of the car and began talking with police when a third officer approached with a rifle. Police said they were responding to a report of people wearing bulletproof vests and the parole officers had not made a courtesy call that they’d be in the area for an arrest. The officers were also briefly held after they had been identified over police radio. The state parole officers have filed a federal lawsuit against the city, accusing the officers of racial profiling and civil-rights violations. Local officials have maintained police did nothing wrong.