Saratoga Deputy Arrested For Slapping Citizen. Didn’t Know He Was Being Recorded (VIDEO)

By: Carlos Miller | Photography is Not a Crime -

Two days after a video went viral, showing a Saratoga County Sheriff’s deputy slapping a man because he did not consent to having his car searched, the deputy was arrested and jailed by his own department. Sergeant Shawn Glans, who was placed on unpaid administrative leave, was also forced to resign in what will probably go down as the quickest internal investigation in the history of law enforcement. The news was just announced on the department’s Facebook page with the following press release: Glans, who has been a law enforcement officer for almost three decades, told the local media that if he had to do it all over again, he would do nothing different – except if he knew he was being recorded.

“You saw the video. It doesn’t look good,” Glans told the Times Union. “I’m all about doing the right thing. I had to go to that point because of the factors that came into play. There was a gun that was involved (that) I spotted in the vehicle.”

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.”

Here is the video:

Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment. He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist’s Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.