CANTON, Ohio – A Canton police office who was caught on camera making death threats, yelling and screaming at people he pulled over during traffic stops faces a disciplinary hearing Thursday at 1 p.m. at Canton City Hall.
Officer Daniel Harless could lose his job at the hearing, according to Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm.
An internal affairs investigation concluded that Harless violated three department rules and regulations during three traffic stops where he was caught on camera berating citizens Investigators say Harless violated rules related to deportment, cooperation with the public and treatment of persons in custody.
NewsChannel5 investigator Sarah Buduson obtained one of three dash cam videos showing Harless making death threats during a traffic stops. On the video we found, Harless and his partner pull a car over for no apparent reason.
After interrogating the passengers inside about their activities, Harless can get heard threatening one passenger, “If you scratch you balls wrong, I’m going to pull my gun and I am going to shoot you.”
NewsChannel5 also obtained more than 700 pages of records on Harless from Canton police. The records showed there have been a total of 18 internal affairs complaints against Harless since 2000. In 15 of the cases, Harless was exonerated.
Harless became the subject of national attention after dash cam video of him yelling, cursing and making death threats during a traffic stop went viral in July.
A second dash cam video of a July 2010 traffic stop showing Harless exhibiting similar behavior surfaced one week later. As result of the internal affairs investigation into the three videos.
Article Courtesy of WEWS NewsChannel 5
