Saratoga Deputy Arrested for Slapping Citizen on Video

by Carlos Miller
PINAC
Nov. 10, 2014

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: