Wisconsin cop caught 'planting evidence' in stranger's car; dept chief promises probe

A southeast Wisconsin police officer in the US sparked controversy after he was caught on camera throwing a tiny bag, appearing to plant drugs, in a Black man’s car. The video, which has now gone viral across social media shows the unnamed officer quickly tossing a plastic bag into the backseat of the pulled-over car that he had stopped for inspection. As the vehicle belonged to a Black person, the incident has caused a huge outcry with people, accusing the police officer of systemic racism. 

The nearly 16-second footage was originally shared by the victim Glockboy Savoo on Facebook where the Wisconsin cop tosses the baggie in the car, then immediately next moment pulls out gloves to search the vehicle parked on the side of the road. The driver, a Black man, is behind the wheels with his hands up.

Wisconsin cop caught 'planting evidence'

“First time ever seeing a cop try to throw some on me just to get a reason to search the car he ain’t even know I was recording you can tell he was nervous,” Savoo wrote in the caption of the video. The officer and the Black man have an officer have back-and-forth and the video cuts out. “Ay bro what’s that?” the man argues, to which the cop responds “What’s what?” “What you just threw in here,” the Black man shouts. “I got you on camera bro,” he says as the officer responds, “I got you on camera, we’re all good.” 

As the video drew backlash, a journalist identified the officer as Officer Matthew Gorney from Wisconsin state, the US, who he said, was appearing to plant drugs on an innocent Black male driver. The footage came to the notice of Wisconsin’s Caledonia Police Department Chief Christopher Botsch, who on behalf of the department released an official statement saying that the police department is taking the matter “very seriously” and has launched an investigation. 

“Earlier today, the Caledonia Police Department was made aware of a cell phone video that is circulating social media platforms depicting the actions of a Caledonia police officer,” Botsch wrote. “We were able to locate the call for service associated with the cell phone video.  The Caledonia Police Department is conducting a comprehensive internal review of the incident.”

Furthermore, he added, that the police will probe the two body cameras as well as dash cams. He urged that the review will take some time and that the cellphone video represented only a small portion of the entire incident. ““The Caledonia Police Department believes strongly in transparency,” he stated. The Black man meanwhile said in an Instagram post that he was detained “for a little while” but was not locked up. He threatened legal action. All squad cars in the south Milwaukee suburb have dashboard cameras, Police chief Botsch meanwhile reminded. 

In a subsequent statement released by the police, the cops said that the vehicle was stopped for speeding. And that, before the video was shot, the passengers were removed from the car and a search was conducted on one of the passengers. Although, the officers did not specify why were the drivers searched for speeding. The cops said in a statement that the officer had pulled out an empty baggie from the passenger's pocket, adding that “there were no drugs in it.” The searching officer then hurtled this plastic bag to another officer who threw it back in the car. Police emphasized that nobody was arrested. 

"While we would discourage officers from discarding items into a citizen’s vehicle, the video is clear that the officer is not planting evidence or doing anything illegal,” Police Chief Christopher Botsch said on Facebook.