The chief of police in Ankeny, Iowa has issued an apology after a video posted to YouTube shows one of his officers requesting to search a vehicle during a routine traffic stop upon learning the man he pulled over plays Frisbee golf.
His reasoning: “Everybody that plays Frisbee golf smokes weed.”
The video, posted on YouTube on October 2nd by Scott Beckwith, shows what appears to be a routine traffic stop. The man in the car was pulled over for not having his front headlights on.
The officer in question, Ankeny PD patrolman Aaron King, is about to let Beckwith off with a warning when he asks a seemingly unrelated question.
“Do you play Frisbee golf?”
“I do, actually. I play out at Heritage (Park),” Beckwith replies.
“Answer me this question,” King says. “Why is it that everyone who plays Frisbee golf smokes weed?”
“Nope, it’s not everybody,” Beckwith replies sheepishly, but King continues.
“It’s everybody, man,” officer King says. “You can’t tell me you’ve never smoked weed before.”
“I’m not going to tell you one way or another,” Beckwith says.
Taking this non-answer as confirmation that he’s on to something, the officer pressed on with his line of questioning.
“See, there you go,” King says. “How much weed do you have in the car today?”
Beckwith denies he has any marijuana on him or in his car. And while the officer admits Beckwith is free to go, he decides to press on with his attempt to search the vehicle.
“…You wouldn’t have a problem with me looking through your car?”
“I actually would,” Beckwith answered. “Just because I have a disc golf bag doesn’t mean that every disc golfer has weed.”
“So you have weed in the car then is what you’re saying?”
And just like that, we’re in a Coen Brothers movie.
Beckwith continued to refuse the officer permission to search his vehicle and eventually he was let go. However, once video of the bizarre traffic stop was posted on YouTube, it caused a minor controversy that the Ankeny Police Department was forced to address.
A statement posted on the Ankeny PD Facebook page reads “”The officer engages the driver in a line of questioning that is foolish and not representative of the Ankeny Police Dept.’s training or interactions with the public. This verbal exchange did not meet the level of professionalism expected of Ankeny police officers.”
“Ankeny Police Chief Gary Mikulec respectfully apologizes for the officer’s demeaning statement and assures that the video has been preserved for an internal investigation.”
Speaking with KCCI News in Des Moines, Iowa, Chief Mikulec reiterated that the line of questioning captured in the video is “extremely disappointing” but notes the driver of the vehicle never filed a formal complaint.
Mikulec says he plans to get in touch with Beckwith to determine possible discipline for Officer King.
Regardless of how the rest of the confrontation played out, Iowa State traffic law would not have substantiated a search of Beckwith’s car.
According to a Drake Law Professor, any marijuana found in the car would have been inadmissible in court.
“The Iowa Supreme Court has held that under the Iowa constitution, you can’t convert an equipment violation stop into a general search,” Professor Robert Rigg told KFOR News in Oklahoma. “Any consent that would have been given would have been invalid in any event.”
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