Motorcyclist gets $65K after detective confronted him with a gun (VIDEO)

A Washington man is collecting a chunk of cash over an interaction with an area detective that resulted in a shift departmental policy on the use of force.

The interaction, recorded by motorcyclist Alex Randall on his GoPro, went viral in 2017 after it showed King County Sheriff’s detective Richard Rowe’s encounter with the man. In the video, released by Randall on social media, Rowe is shown pointing an unholstered Glock at the man, saying “I’m going to knock you off this bike,” as a result of what the detective contended was a display of reckless high-speed driving. The video has been viewed over 500,000 times in the past year.

While Rowe’s actions were investigated by King County Sheriff John Urquhart’s office, a civil lawsuit filed earlier this year by Randall against both Rowe and the county argued the department failed to provide adequate supervision or training to the officer who did not properly identify himself as law enforcement, made an illegal search and used excessive force. The filing argues there was no legal justification for Rowe to draw his firearm or brandish it during the stop.

With a new sheriff, Mitzi Johanknecht, in office, Rowe was given a five-day suspension in April and the lawsuit was settled for $65,000 this week.

As part of the settlement, the King County Sheriff has agreed to issue a Special Order by the end of this week to implement an interim policy clarifying that “aiming a weapon is a use of force and should be reported within the Sheriff’s office subject to further consideration and evaluation by persons higher up in the chain of command,” followed by a permanent policy that all such incidents must be reported for review.

“This was a terrifying incident for me, and I hope that this settlement will prevent this from happening to anyone else,” said Randall in a statement. “I’m glad that something good has come from what happened to me, and I look forward to continuing to volunteer my efforts to improve community relations with our police.”

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