You don’t really need a backstory to this gone-viral video. We publish it here because the entire incident was rifle-related. It all started when a man named Colin Fitch purchased a .22 caliber long gun. Mr. Fitch and his best bud Adam Roberts were stopped by cops who saw the rifle on the back seat of Mr. Roberts’ parked car. Former Facebooker and Saratoga County Deputy Shawn Glans and his best bud wanted to search the car. Boy did they want to search the car . . .

The resulting video will, hopefully, afford Mr. Glans an immediate opportunity to pursue some anger management classes and other professional opportunities. Oh, after Fitch showed Glans the receipt for the rifle the duo were allowed on their way, riding off to Internet fame.

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137 COMMENTS

    • The jackhole was given an unpaid vacation then resigned from the department before his hearing. That way he preserves his pension. Congratulations minions of the State of New York, you get to send a check to this dirt ball for the rest of his life.

      His wife claimed that he was not usually like this but he has “had a tough year”.
      http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Saratoga-deputy-suspended-as-video-of-slapping-5880169.php

      He admits that he would do this again unless their was a camera recording the event. My question is, how many other people has this happened to?

      Interesting how the other cop at the scene never steps in to slow this a-holes roll.

        • This piece of shit dirtbag cop and his buddies need to sit on ice for a while and cool off while we strip them of ALL their rights. Then we will slap the shit out of their damned families. How does that feel?

      • Too bad this jack-boot and punk partner don’t get 10 to 15 in NY’s worst prison getting his bunghole worked out.

    • As I suspected would happen after this video went viral, the police dept. didn’t like it so much.

      “Sgt. Shawn R. Glans, 48, who has been a police officer for 27 years, was suspended without pay pending an internal investigation”

      Sheriff Michael Zurlo on Saturday said he was “very disturbed” by what he saw on the video.

      “I really am,” the sheriff said. “I don’t condone activity as it’s portrayed and we’re going to look into it and we’ll handle this quickly and swiftly.

      • “I really am,” the sheriff said. “I don’t condone activity as it’s portrayed and we’re going to look into it and we’ll handle this quickly and swiftly. We’re going to track down the little sh1t who posted this clip on the Interweb and make him take it down. And then we’ll arrest him for double parking and shoot his dog. And maybe his mother. And burn his house down. That little… Wait… IS THAT THING ON??????

  3. Any cop who uses foul language in the presence of a citizen should be required to publicly — as in, on the steps of the court house with press in attendance. Any cop who uses foul language at a citizen should be fined $100 per foul word, to be donated to a charity of the citizen’s choice, plus apologize in public, and have the incident on permanent record as a detriment to promotion.

    And of course a cop who strikes or even pushes a citizen should be charged with assault.

    • In other news, I was at the public pistol range yesterday (Sunday), when 3 SWATted up Wildlife officers kicked everyone off for an hour so they could play around with their Mossberg. By the time they were done, and magnanimously allowed us back on the range our tax dollars paid for, the light was almost gone. I drove out an hour to get 30 minutes on the pistol range.

      Some animals are more equal than others.

      • Yeah had the same thing happen to me but it was at a gun range, which I paid admission for. Apparently the cops were friends with the guys who ran the range and they were also former cops themselves. So, any time the man in blue wanted to shoot, they ran all of us less than equal “civilians” off and got their play time. Even if they had many lanes open, they would shut them all down. This was in a city where the police had their own range as well, yet they came to this business to shoot for some reason. So, obviously, that place lost my business after I was told to pack up after 20 minutes in the range so their police buddies could shoot. Oh, and I was refused a refund as well. Glad I live in the country now so my backyard is my range.

    • I have to say, even without the slap, telling a poor kid who hasn’t even committed a crime, “I’m going to rip your ******* head off and **** down your neck” ought to get Glans fired for that alone.

      • I agree, until the majority mount up, stop this nonsense
        and put some serious hurt on the good-ol-boys network
        in the justice system; the taxpayers haven’t suffered
        enough.

  5. Take away that badge and I bet Mr. Hardass there becomes a lot less cocky…

    Slapping some young boys around, huh? Probably slaps his wife around too, big man that he is.

    • Officer Glans said he’d do it all over again, but only if he wasn’t on camera.

      In expletive-laced encounter, officer allegedly slaps man (Times Union)
      http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Saratoga-deputy-suspended-as-video-of-slapping-5880169.php

      Asked if he would have handled the matter the same way again, Glans said he would, but not if he knew it was being filmed. He acknowledged that he did not know the incident was being videotaped.

      “I was concerned. It was a public safety issue,” the sergeant said. “If I had to do it all over again … I’d probably do the same thing. If I knew the camera was there, no, because it does look bad.”

      • And here is everything the taxpayer needs to know about cops.

        They’re embarrassed only at being caught. They have no problems with the actual behavior.

        We should thank this officer for clearing that up for us.

        • The fact that Glans came out and said so in a news interview tells me that, lawless attitude aside, this guy is flat-out too stupid to be trusted with any kind of legal authority, let alone the power of life and death he carries on his hip.

      • I didn’t realize he was a Sergeant. In that case, we’re talking about a leadership position, perhaps some training responsibilities, and definitely some example-setting for the other officers. No way he should be allowed to continue in that role.

        His only concern is that he got caught on camera? That’s what all the criminals take away from such encounters, too. If he has an otherwise stellar record (doubtful), then I might consider pulling his stripes and shunting him off to meter maid duty for a year, after a lengthy sequence of anger management classes, and let him work his way back up.

        Otherwise, for the assault, the language and the blatant disregard for constitutional rights, I’d fire him and prosecute him.

        • You’re more generous than I am.

          If I was running that outfit, parking enforcement would be the position he was working up to.

    • When he cost Saratoga millions in that settlement they didn’t learn the lesson which is to cut your losses while you can. Clearly someone went to bat for him and allowed him to sail past 20 years and collect a pension for the rest of his life.

    • Wow. Unbelievable. Turns a father of 6 into a quadriplegic, gets to keep his badge and gun after the undisclosed million dollar settlement, and makes Sergeant so he can continue to abuse the public with his power and train others to do so. Who exactly is the Sheriff of Saratoga County, and how is he still in power?

  9. The whole Saratoga County Sheriff Department has been going downhill for a long time. The new unqualified Sheriff Zurlo is a joke and it is not surprising allows trash like this deputy to be employed by the county.

  10. This f***er really needs to go to jail for assault, just like any other criminal. Big f***ng man, swinging his authoritah around. Until cops “police” their own, this is just going to get worse, until watching the watchers finally gets taken out of their hands.

    • If I slap someone at work I go to jail

      He slaps someone at work and gets a paid vacation

      Tell me again how his badge doesn’t give him superpowers

  11. I guarantee that if the kid had slapped Officer Glans, he would have been arrested before you can say “assault on an officer.” The officer should be arrested. It’d likely be simple assault and battery, but still, he should get the ride downtown.

      • That would be aggravated assault up to potentially homicide.

        There was no threat to lthe kids life with the slap

        HIre an attorney and PR exec and go to town on the PD and Officer “Glans”

        He desperately needs to be stripped of his badge.

    • Didn’t I read that there was another cop there? Why wouldn’t he arrest this t*rd? And is he sharing the paid vacation?

      • The other cop arrest him? He was there going along with it – he’s the one who caught the keys and searched the car. You can’t expect an accomplice to arrest the criminal.

      • That’s how you know this is a BS-coverup, even if Glans is fired. Any decent sheriff would say to the unknown second officer: “Officer Jones, am I correct you witnessed Officer Glans strike a citizen without provocation, and did not report it?” “OK, you’re fired.” But I suspect Glans will be the sole fall guy.

      • It’s ok. I’m confident justice will be served. There’s an… “INTERNAL INVESTIGATION” regarding the other officers on the scene. (lol – *rolls eyes)

    • Technically in NY slapping someone like that- cop or not- isn’t an assault. It’s “harassment.” Go figure.

  12. Apparently, the cop has been fired. But, the video shows that there was a second cop. While the second cop did not himself commit similar acts (apparently), he was a witness to illegal acts of his partner and did not interfere or arrest his partner. Shouldn’t the second cop be fired for dereliction of duty?

  13. Fire the cop.

    And any legal settlement should be garnished from the paychecks of every active and retired cop on the force. The only way to stop this stuff is to hit cops in the one place they care about, their wallets.

    • The bad behavior won’t cease until police officers (instead of taxpayers) pay the price.

      They’re protected by so-called qualified immunity, but a better name would be unqualified impunity.

      • Absolutely. Also, police should be required to have professional liability insurance, like healthcare professionals. So if you don’t want your premiums to skyrocket (or you don’t want to be uninsurable) then don’t be reckless or malicious on the job.

  14. Welcome to New York where you’ll soon be required to wear an arm band if you don’t belong to that 1%, for public safety of course.

  15. At what point do we allow so much immunity to the police that we might as well put them is SS uniforms?

    If we slap the officer, it is directly to jail if not shot. Why do they get to slap anyone and just walk away? I believe even suspension without pay for a week seems about right.

    • Nope, fire him, bring him up on assault charges and as he is carrying a weapon maybe even more than that. The fact that he argued about the warrant is another reason to fire him. The slap is another reason. The swearing at a citizen (one of his employers) is another reason, general disrespect of a citizen is another. The list goes on. This cop did so many things wrong he should never be allowed to be a cop or even a security guard ever again. Maybe a prison guard in a max facility? There he might eventually get what he really deserves. That is for someone to slap him around. Who else will pay for this? The taxpayers for the inevitable settlement from the lawsuit. Who is responsible besides him? His boss, of course and any other supervisors. Chances are good this is not the first time he has done something like this. Why was he still working as a cop? His boss needs to be fired also.

      • “…or even a security guard ever again”

        Right, because private security officers are held to a lower standard of behavior than police. Not where I work! As someone who works in healthcare security, I can tell you that I would be unemployed if I acted this way. Damn, even people who are critical of the police seem to think security officers are the cops lovable, learning-disabled little brothers. Keep in mind that while there are parallels, security and LE are two distinct occupations.

  16. I’m apportioning a small percent of my outrage to the nosy nelly assh0le who phoned in the “suspicious car”.

  17. Perfect example of more than a small percentage of uniformed officers and there egotistical mind set over all others. This is the kind of man that will turn people and Especially young men totally against people in the place of authority. When this is done and those treated in manners such as this will sometimes be a direct influence of there attitude and actions towards the next authority figure inline . Almost see it there eyes ” who and What turned this Prick Loose with A Badge, Gun and His Take on Authority? With the mindset of those on the other side Id hate to be that Idiot in a dark lonely alley on the wrong night. nothing to see here though just keep suppressing, treating and one day when all that mistreatment comes to head. Pray they’ve found a safe route to vent or it very well could be bloody riot. There’s one officer that needs stripped of his gun and badge and never allowed to work in a place of authority over anything other than a lawn again

  18. Well, well, this DOES look bad. looks like Deputy Glans got suspended–get this–WITHOUT pay! Comment under the youtube vid claims the deputy was “arrested”–wouldn’t that be something?

  19. Section 1983 federal suit. Assault under “color of authority”. That is a nice check for the young man. Maybe he can buy 22LR now

  20. why does TTAG continue to harass these fine officers?

    Oh because they violate their oaths and deserve to not only be fired but arrested. Same goes for the witnessing officer.

  21. This prick needs to lose his job and spend time in prison for assault (threatening), battery (hitting), abuse of power, illegal search, and whatever else they find.

    Instead the DA and department will puss out and give him a slap on the wrist.

  22. so when is a ‘peon’ allowed to slap the bitch back??

    hopefully, sometime before the motherfucking cattlecar doors close.

    seriously, could that govt terrorist NOT fit to a T, the stereotypical archetypal mold of a buzz cut, fat fuck overweight doughnut-drowning maggot short tempered roid-head POS??

    another govt terrorist monkey who never grew out of Jr. HS bully phase.

  23. My grandpa just used to shoot Nazis. Granted, it was in Europe, but a nazi is a nazi, right? I hope he ends up in prison and a really big dude with size 16 feet decides to get really “intense” with him.

    • Of course he did, this way he gets to keep his pension. Similar thing happened in Washington DC where a fire lieutenant resigned before an investigation into misconduct could be completed, letting her keep her pension.

  26. He was indeed arrested. Seems like they could have slapped a few more charges from that video. For example, I see nothing about assault, only Official Misconduct and 2nd Degree harassment. One must admit, as far as internal investigations of police activities go, that one happened really quickly.

    https://locker.ifttt.com/f/aeb836ba-a7da-4b65-86ce-0bc0472bf68b

    On one hand, I want to trust police officers, but then I see stuff like this. The only way that officer faced any kind of justice was for someone to film him. Makes me wonder if that’s how all police interactions should be handled now.

  29. NY Deputy Sees Rifle, Swears Like a Sailor, Slaps Citizen, Grabs Keys and Searches Car. Then he went to the citizen’s home but ended up at the wrong address, kicked in the neighbor’s door without a warrant, flash-banged an infant in a crib and shot the family dog down the block since that was the closest one available. And then the cop went home safe to get drunk and abuse his wife. The end.

    • Ralph, you left out the part about sexual molestation…

      Ex-Maine State Police chief pleads guilty to sex assault, will serve 4 years
      http://www.centralmaine.com/2014/11/04/ex-maine-state-police-chief-expected-to-plead-guilty-to-sex-assault/

      Andrew Demers Jr., a 26-year veteran twice named Trooper of the Year, pleads guilty to sexual contact

      One of the mostly highly decorated police officers in Maine’s history was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child.

      Demers pleaded guilty as part of an agreement reached by McKee and Anderson in which a more serious Class A felony charge of gross sexual assault was dismissed. He could have faced up to 30 years on that charge.

      The District Attorney’s Office and McKee arranged for Demers to turn himself in at the county jail.

  31. I hope the ex-deputy goes to jail and gets put in general population where he can find out just how tough he really is.

    I’m guessing the kid in the video is going to be walking on easy street after his civil rights lawsuit. It would appear this is not the first time ex-Deputy Glans has cost the city some serious money.

    Scumbag.

  32. If I was the slapee, I’d give the deputy a choice — allow yourself to get fired with complete loss of all pension and benefits or I’ll press assault charges.

    O2

    • O2- Resorting to blackmail as you imply, makes the innocent no better than the guilty. There is no choice to be had by the state sanctioned thug since he broke the law by assaulting the young man and conducted an unlawful search of the guys vehicle. The state sanctioned thug should be arrested for aggravated assault or assault with a deadly weapon, since he was armed while committing the felony being discussed in the article. The problem with being law abiding is that when confronted by police we don’t know if they are good guys with guns. We are supposed to have a justice system that prosecutes all criminals even the ones with color of authority. When the cops have indoctrinated themselves into the Us vs Them mentality is the reason most folks have lost faith in the law enforcement profession, because there is plenty of force involved in being a cop just not much lawfulness anymore. The criminals partner should be charged as an accessory or a willing accomplice.

      • The slapee can hire an attorney who may present just such a deal to his employer and the Glans himself. Blackmail is when you ask for compensation in return for doing nothing or protecting him. There would be no protecting, only two bad choices.

  34. ok. where do we start i’m from NY Albany NY and ill tell you WHAT IF I WAS SLAPPED LIKE THAT THAT’S GROUNDS FOR DEFENDING MYSELF. PUSSY COP CAN’T STAND UP TO THE JOB DOES THE ROIDS HAVE HIM ALL UP IN ARMS WTF NY!!!!

  35. I’m pretty sure the good Mr. (now former officer) Glans will soon find himself involved on a rather pointed civil suit. I’m also pretty sure he will reflect on the awful unfairness of it it all. After all, as he pointed out, he doesn’t think he did anything wrong—he just regrets having it videoed. What we see in the video is “role-playing”. If you watch enough bad-cop encounter videos you begin to see that these guys are performing a little street-theater. It’s all rather well rehearsed. The tight uniform, the shaved head, the posturing, threatening stance, the “command” voice, the profanity and, of course . . . . the slap in the face.

    We can go on and on about the few bad cops versus the many good cops but it’s obvious that what we’ve seen here is a normal part of Mr. Glan’s regular routine. This is how the normally goes about doing his job. The inactivity of the other cop is telling. I suspect that as far as he was concerned this was just another night on the street with his buddy Glans. Within the cop-shop guys like Glans are regarded as being a little too tightly wrapped but nothing more than that. Absent the video he’d be doing this kind of stuff for years to come. Give him a few months and he’ll show up as a cop on another town’s police force. Then there’ll really be hell to pay the next time some civilian tries to make a video.

  36. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR THIS AND IF YOUR NOT WILLING TO ACT THE SAME WAY WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR BEING VIDEOED THEN YOU ALSO KNOW YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG ! ! ! ! FIRE HIM !!!!!

  37. Folks should publish his home address, telephone number, do a little Google foo on Facebook , shame him in public, and remind him that he is/was not a gestapo officer, just a cop;
    And to keep his head on a swivel as if things get sporty in NY, even bullies can get smacked back.
    I hope cops SEE this and remember.
    Protect and SERVE!!!!!!

    • It would be nice to see “justice” for once. Cut his pension, jail him for battery and relocate his family to Africa.

  38. The people are his customers…if I spoke that way in front of coworkers I’d be looking for a new job…let alone in front of customers… if an officer spoke to me that way, I’d be going after him…technically if you look at what the word means…he sexually threatened that guy for wanting to search his car.

    hope that cop loses his job.

    • If they want to be thugs, then they should be treated liked thugs. Let’s borrow a page from the Yakuza: a screw up like this and they lose a digit.

      A fella can dream, anyway.

      We’ve long since crossed the line where being in law enforcement is not enough to earn respect. Like anyone else, a L.E.O. must exhibit behavior advice and beyond the norm to reserve respect. This assumes that there was once a time when the default for law enforcement would be ‘above and beyond’ the norm for others.

  44. Cops like this should not have guns. Obvious this cop is a threat to society. Ban all cops as you can see they are dangerous from this video (end sarcasm). But really, who did the psych eval on this piece of crap? Who is watching over his actions ? This is a great advertisement for cameras on all officers and their police cars. Review often and get rid of the bad apples. This guy should never have made sergeant. Why has his partner not been filing reports on his illegal actions before this happened?

  46. “We publish it here because the entire incident was rifle-related.”

    NO! You should publish it because it’s police abusing their power, related.
    This isn’t a rifle story, the rifle is just the excuse used by the officer to justify his behavior. This is an “us” vs “them” story, and we’re “them.” Focusing on the rifle is a distraction and only helps the “us” in this story evade the only pertinent question that should be asked. How did this unpleasant and violent event ever happen? Unaccountability! The minute you grant anyone protection from being held personally accountable for their actions, bad things happen. But when you grant this protection to law enforcement, really bad, criminal, things have always happened, and will continue to happen. If you want to prevent police officer Us, from committing civil rights or criminal acts on John Q, Them, ten accountability must be the rule. And we’re not seeing any.

    And police still wonder why they have such piss-poor PR with so many gun owning, gun carrying Americans?

  47. I saw this video a few days ago. This guy gives LEOs everywhere a bad name.

    On a side note, after clicking related video after related video, I found myself watching Piers Morgan shooting guns at an indoor range. I was amazed he didn’t pee himself just being around them. I’ll give him credit for at least shooting them. And watching him and Ted Nugent bicker back and forth is always entertaining. Then again, Ted Nugent is entertaining all by himself, so maybe it’s just Ted.

  48. The government employee committed two crimes while under the color of authority. He should be facing life in prison, loss of pension and the confiscation and sale of all assets.

  49. We have two issues here:

    One. Bad cop who, under cover of law, abuses a citizen.
    Two. Partner of bad cop, who, while not directly involved, did nothing to restrain his fellow officer.

    This incident encapsulates everything a lot of us have said and argued about with the apologists for cops, and that is, bad officers are protected by their fellow officers.

  50. Glans is a real tough guy when he is hiding behind a badge .

    The way to fix the chronic police abuse isn’t really complicated. 1 – make body cameras mandatory for all cops, everywhere. Make it a mandatory fine for the department if cops are on duty without operating body cameras. 2 – make police interfering with/stopping citizens filming them on duty into a criminal act with jail time.

    Nothing keeps vermin under control like the disinfectant of shining a light on them.

    Cops have no expectation of privacy while on duty, and honest cops ought to applaud being filmed.

    • If we’re going to fine cops for things, the money from the fines should go to pay public defenders more.

  52. My question is when do I get to protect myself from an officer. If I am assualted by someone on the street and I protect myself or my family it is ok. But if I am assualted by an officer, I just have to stand there and take it? Where is it reasonable to protect myself or my family?

  53. Well, I have had a few minutes to digest what this fine low standing officer did, and I realized that in my youth, he was the guy that usually coached football or wrestling and was the assistant principal in high school. I’ve met bunches of these guys over the years, but they usually weren’t police officers, because they couldn’t pass the psych evaluation tests. I see the dept. has elected a new sheriff and he jumped on this case pretty quick. Probably has other problems in the dept. and wanted to set an example with this clown that things are gonna change.

  54. I’m so glad I got the heck out of NY after my three years at Fort Drum were finished! NY cops were just as bad as California cops.

  55. He may have resigned, but a certain percentage of his pension and his possesions should be on the line. I am not saying that they take his whole pension, but getting sued and having to declare bankrupcy as well as pay 10% of his pension for life will deter cops from acting like this in the future.
    I wouldn’t have that job for anything, I would be a real prick. We pay police well and they have jobs that pretty much last until they they get pensioned. If I wee a truck driver and decided to run someone off the road, on purpose, I could get sued and charged and probly go to jail. The company I worked for would get sued, as would I.
    I see no difference here.

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