A Texas police officer has been put on administrative leave after a video surfaced that appears to show the officer pepper-spraying a group of of motorcyclists on a busy highway.
The alleged incident began after Officer W. Figueroa pulled over a pick-up truck in Fort Worth. Following the traffic stop, Figueroa emerged from the police car with what appeared to be a canister of pepper spray.
He then reportedly began spraying a group of passing motorcyclists. A video of the incident was captured on a go-pro camera that one of the cyclists, Jack Kinney, had mounted on his helmet. Kinney stopped his bike, took off his helmet and aimed it directly at Figueroa.
“It’s like he [the officer] wasn’t focused on the truck. He was focused on the group [of riders],” Kinney said. “Then I saw some white or yellow cloud.”
It wasn’t until Kinney got home and watched the video that he realized what had really taken place.
While it is unclear whether any of the passing motorcyclists were exposed to the pepper spray, Chase Stone, president of an East Texas motorcycle “team” known as the East Texas Heat, posted the video on his Facebook page, saying he believed the officer was trying to cause an accident.
While there were no accidents reported from the incident, Kinney says that the officer’s behavior could have very well been deadly.
“When I first saw it, I was angry that the officer would attack all those bikers with his pepper spray with the intention of harassing and ultimately causing an accident where people could get hurt or even worse,” Kinney said.
Hat Tip: Fark