breaking squelch. it s just leaklike a static. i never heard him say anything, i heard that come over the radio. a chill come over my body and i knew something was wrong. at the crime scene the gunman jumps out of the car and tries to shoots rankin again. but when the gun jams, he pistol-whips him. he tried to grab the gun. i felt a jolt, a rush of energy. rankin pushes the shooter away and runs to his car. that s when the suspect takes off in his own vehicle. i just felt this rage come over me, this just pure rage of this coward just shot me, got over the top, beat me and everything else and now i m ready, you know, i m standing up to fight back and now he s running and it really just pissed me off. and i shot 16 rounds at his car and 15 of him hit his car and
been spotted by the alleged car thief. i asked him, come on. show me your registration. prove your side of the story. and that s when i reach for my radio to tell the station where i was, what i was doing the suspect smacks the radio out of colombo s hand and starts throwing punches. i tried to trip him up. at one point, i took him. and i had him by the back and scruff of the neck. and i actually rammed him like you would ram down a door with a battering ram into a car. and the guy went down. but the attacker just pops back up. when he got up, i was a little concerned, you know, that maybe this guy is on drugs or something. get on the ground now! on the street, people are passing slowly by as sergeant colombo finds himself in a full-on brawl. i could see the people looking. i know they want to help. but i m getting the feeling that they re a little bit scared. i don t begrudge any of these people for standing by.
then another officer is seen poking a shotgun at the passenger as he drops to the ground. the passenger accuses the officer of hitting him in the face with the shotgun. the internal affairs reports indicate that he struck the motorist on the cheek with the barrel of the shotgun, causing it to bleed a little bit and his face to swell, at least according to that motorist s statement. the officer is demoted and reassigned. in another car chase, a vehicle that refuses to pull over finally comes to a stop. get out of the car! get out of the car! one officer drags out the passenger and appears to beat him as another officer stands over the man and a third walks slowly around the car to the scene. according to the internal affairs report, the passenger was not complying with the officer s orders to show his hands. you see the officer using his hand to strike the passenger several times but also using his
an officer with the crisp county sheriff s department in georgia. in the predawn hours of february 2nd, 2006, everything is about to change. deputy rankin is following a driver who is blasting his car radio. i really thought he was a dui, i mean, with the loud music and the way he was kind of erratic driving, i figured he was a dui especially 2:00 in the morning coming from the city. with the police video camera on in the patrol car, the deputy walks up to the driver. all the windows are pretty tinted even with my lights and takedown lights on couldn t really see into the car too well. i leaned into the driver s side door to speak to him and i thought he would roll the window down like most people do, but he opened the door up. all i saw was the flash, the bang. and that was it. i never saw a gun. all i saw was a blast. i hit the ground. i thought i d died. as the officer laid bleeding, deputy ben bright is already on his way. i heard, like, we call it
one of them actually hit the headrest of his car. deputy gray arrives at the scene. his dash cam shows rankin on his hands and knees. the adrenaline rush is gone and he s bleeding profusely. he was hollering and screaming and said he d been shot. shot in the face. rankin is amazingly coherent enough to give a description of the suspect. he felt like half his face was gone. some of rankin s teeth are on the ground as well as shell casings and his pistol. i remember asking is my face gone because i still couldn t feel nothing in the face besides just pure pain. within minutes an ambulance arrives and takes deputy rankin to the hospital. that same morning officers find the suspect s car. it s riddled with bullets from deputy rankin s gun and by 9 :30 that morning police arrest 35 ben westbrook for the shooting. he d once served prison time for aggravated assault.