Viral Video Of Traffic Stop Sparks Lawsuit

FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - A lawsuit is in the works against the Boynton Beach police  department over a traffic stop last year in which Boynton Beach police officers were caught on camera dragging a young man out of a car and threatening to shoot his friend.

The video recently went viral on YouTube.

This week, the police department was put on notice by attorney Ken Lemoine that he would suing them on behalf of the car's driver Jack Noubert, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Lemoine said the officers were out of line and need to be held accountable. Boynton Beach police Chief Jeffrey Katz disagrees.

Click here to watch Joan Murray's report. 

On Tuesday, Katz responded on the department's Facebook page that the incident, which happened during an expletive laced traffic stop in February 2013, was investigated and it was determined that officers actions were justified. He added that the sergeant in the video who pulled Noubert from the car 'felt threatened' when he saw him put his hand out the window holding a black object. That object turned out to be a cell phone.

"We encourage members of the public to educate themselves with the facts of this case and not utilize social media to fuel tensions," wrote Katz.

The car was stopped because officers spotted it driving slowly within a two mile perimeter they had set up after a home invasion.

One of the men in the car grabbed his cell phone and started recording what happened next. The video starts with the sergeant, whose name has not been released by police, asking Noubert for his ID. When Noubert asks why he needs it, the officer replies because he was the driver. He then demands the IDs of everyone in the car.

When the man recording the incident tells the officer what he's doing, the cops tells him to turn off the phone immediately.

"No, I have rights. I'm not intimidated, I have right, sir. I'm recording your ass, b****, you're on camera," replies the passenger in the back seat with the cell phone.

At that point Noubert asks the officer for his name and badge number.   The officer says his badge number.  That's when Noubert stuck his hand out the window to try to get a picture of the officer's badge with his cell phone.

On the video, the officer slaps the phone out of Noubert's hand, pulls him from the car and forces him into a face down position on the ground.

A moment later, a second officer runs up to the car with a gun drawn and threatens those inside, "I'll put a round in your a** so quick."

The video ends there.

"As we're driving up the street on 11th Avenue a cop jumps out ...pointing his gun at the car," said Noubert. "As I get out, he just takes me by one arm and slams me. I'm black. My face, everything is in the grass and everything."

Katz said because the men in the car were not cooperative and at times acted with antagonism towards the officers during the traffic stop, they provoked the officers' stress response.

Dennis Kenney, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, told the Sun Sentinel that the officers were in their right to pull the car over, ask for IDs and even remove Noubert from the car. However, when the gun was drawn on the men inside the car, the office went over the line.

"You should never pull your weapon unless you're ready to use it," he told the paper after viewing the video. "It's not used for compliance. Unless it is a circumstance where you are justified to shoot, if there's any additional aggressive moves, then pulling that gun out is stupid. It should stay in its holster."

Noubert and another man were cited for obstruction of justice, according to an arrest report. Records show the obstruction charges were eventually dropped.

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