Video footage of a shocking December incident was making the rounds on Tuesday, and the clip does no favors for law enforcement.
An off-duty Connecticut police officer, later identified as Meriden police officer Corporal Allen Ganter, is seen in the footage punching a motorist in the head after the man blew his horn at an intersection, NBC Connecticut reported. The motorist, Thomas Brocuglio, had a dash cam in use at the time that recorded the attack.
Ganter was driving a pickup truck and was stopped in front of Brocuglio at a traffic light. When the impatient motorist blew his horn the officer got out of his truck and flashed his badge, telling Brocuglio, “You can’t turn on red, a**hole.”
“Really? Where does it say that? It says ‘stop here on red,’ and you are the one sitting on your phone,” Brocuglio shot back.
Things escalated from here, and when Brocuglio asked for Ganter’s badge number he lost his cool and punched the man through his open window:
“F**king **shole! Who do you think you are f**king with? Do you want to get arrested?” the off-duty cop said.
“You are going to get arrested for assaulting a civilian,” Brocuglio responded, before calling 911.
Ganter was approached at his residence by police officers and was recorded on a body cam admitting his crime.
“So, he is saying that I hit him?” he asked. “And there is nothing I can press for breach of peace, for him yelling at me?”
He eventually fessed up, saying, “My fault. I’m wrong, I shouldn’t have.”
Ganter would be suspended 5 days without pay for violating the department’s rules of conduct and is required to attend mandatory de-escalation training for three consecutive years, beginning this year, according to the NBC affiliate.
Turns out, Ganter was a school resource officer at Thomas Edison Middle School. He was placed on administrative leave during the investigation and reassigned afterwards.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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