At first, Kenneth Walton thought the Arizona state trooper following him and his 7-year-old daughter wanted to warn him of a broken taillight.

They were in a rental car, on a stretch of Interstate 40 between Las Vegas and Flagstaff, Ariz., on what was supposed to be a fun Grand Canyon vacation. It was dark, and Walton knew he hadn’t been speeding, so — not thinking much of it — he pulled over on an off-ramp, rolled down his driver’s side window and waited.

That’s when things went “terribly awry,” according to the San Francisco man’s account of what happened last Thursday.

“Tonight, I was arrested at gunpoint by an Arizona highway patrol officer who threatened to shoot me in the back (twice) in front of my 7-year-old daughter,” Walton wrote on Facebook, hours after the incident. “For a moment, I was certain he was going to kill me for no reason. I’m alive, and I need to share the story.”

His post, published early Friday morning and updated throughout the weekend, went viral, serving as a lightning rod for discussions about what is appropriate during interactions with law enforcement.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety confirmed that the traffic stop took place but disputed the tone and some of the details in Walton’s Facebook post, calling it “inflammatory” and “irresponsible.” The department is standing by the trooper’s actions, including his threat to shoot Walton during the traffic stop, said Capt. Damon Cecil of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

“We sympathize with them; I don’t think there’s any law enforcement official who would not be just as angry, just as fearful and terrorized if [they were in a similar situation and] officers had guns pointed out,” Cecil told The Washington Post. “It’s a scary situation. But in light of that, this is a positive story. … This case is a prime example of how things should be done.”

According to the DPS, the traffic stop occurred around 7:43 p.m. on Aug. 11, after the license plate on Walton’s rental car came up as stolen. The trooper requested backup and followed the rental car on the Interstate 40 until it exited the highway.

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According to DPS, an investigation ultimately found the rental car company had not replaced the license plates when the front plate was reported stolen, which is why it had been flagged in the system.

To complicate matters, Fox Rent a Car said the license plate number in question should have never been placed in the stolen-plates database in the first place.

The rental car, a 2015 Nissan Altima, was registered in Arizona, which only issues rear license plates, according to Fox Rent a Car chief operating officer Sean Busking. Last November, the car was reported stolen in California, Busking said. Five days later, the Oakland Police Department recovered the vehicle — along with its one and only rear license plate — and cleared it to return to the rental fleet, he said.

An NYPD officer has been suspended after video of a brutal street fight involving his friends made the rounds on social media. The off-duty cop not only failed to provide assistance to the victim but didn’t identify himself as law enforcement to responding officers.

Although Officer Ronnie Velez received the suspension for failing to inform responding officers he was one of their own, video shows him forcefully restraining Ray Cordero from assisting as Velez’ friends cruelly attack Elliott Ambert — leaving him with multiple facial fractures and bleeding on the brain.

“He never identified himself as a police officer to me,” Cordero explained, as the New York Daily News reported. “I don’t understand how you can be an officer of the law and still let that happen.”

Three of Velez’ pals have been charged with felony assault over the alleged beating which occurred around 6 p.m. Sunday, as Ambert and Cordero left the Il Bastardo restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

According to Cordero, a bouncer broke up a brief verbal confrontation between Ambert and another man, but once they left the immediate area, it didn’t take long for Velez’ friends to pounce.

Cordero says Velez, who can be seen on a bystander’s cellphone video in a black shirt and shorts, came up behind him and began throwing punches — striking Cordero in the head.

Reid Koran, Jeremy Gonzalez, and Michael Batista — the now-suspended officer’s friends — relentlessly pummeled Ambert while Velez, and then another one of the men, restrained Cordero, as seen in the bystander’s video.

Cordero said the second man, who put him in a headlock and pulled him slightly away from the ongoing assault, flashed a police shield. This move, could only be considered a threat, considering the unidentified officer — like Velez — wore street clothes and also failed to either intervene or offer help to Ambert afterward.

“I wasn’t going to hit a cop,” Cordero said, indicating the police shield likely had its intended effect. “I started to back up.”

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Early Tuesday in Indianapolis, an African-American woman was being carjacked in front of her home in her working class neighborhood. She ran back in the house, told her husband, who is also black, and they called the police to report the robbery. That seemed to be the right and safe thing to do.

As the police pulled up, the husband, who was later identified as 48-year-old Carl Williams, opened the garage to their home and was immediately shot in the gut by police.

Deaf mute father shot dead by police while trying to communicate with them

A father who is deaf and mute has been shot dead by police after trying to communicate with them using sign language.

Daniel Kevin Harris, 29, was pulled over for a speeding violation in North Carolina last Thursday when he was driving towards his home.

Officers tried to pull him over but he continued to drive until he reached his address, engaging the police in a brief pursuit.

On pulling up at his home, he stepped out of the car and started signing to state trooper Jermaine Saunders.

Saunders fired a shot at Mr Harris, who was unarmed and died at the scene.

Witnesses described him using his arms to try and communicate with police adding that it appeared as though he was shot ‘almost immediately’ after getting out of the car.

Saunders said that he had shot Harris because he was not following orders and was advancing on officers, according to WCCB.

Mr Harris’s brother, Jay, said: ‘He was unarmed – and he is a deaf individual, and I think that he was just afraid.

‘He could not hear their warnings. He could not hear their commands to stop or to stay away from them.’

After Fort Worth police officer William Figueroa was seen shooting out pepper spray into the faces of motorcyclists as they drove by on a busy highway, he was placed on paid vacation pending an internal investigation. The investigation was wrapped up in June. However, investigators left it up to Figueroa’s bosses to decide what, if any, punishment he would receive.

Now, nearly two months after the investigation, and Figueroa back on the streets, the department announced that he wouldn’t be punished. Instead, the department said that Figueroa will receive “internal sanctions.” When asked what “internal sanctions” are, Sgt. Marcus Povero, a police spokesman, said Friday that he could not specify. However, he added that they could include retraining or a “commander’s admonishment.”

In other words, an officer who nearly caused a deadly pileup, from being unable to control his rage, will not be punished.

LAPD cops were busted in a citizen journalist’s video ditching their body cameras, right after shooting and killing the mentally ill father of a 10-month old child just last week, right after receiving a phone call informing them they would be remotely activated.

The video which you can see below was published to YouTube on August 21, shows two Los Angeles Police Department cops in East Hollywood conspiring to stash their recording devices after they fatally shot Marcelo Luna.

Luna suffered from mental illnesses, and was reportedly armed with a “bayonet-style weapon.”

“Hey, toss these in the car,” one unidentified LAPD cop can be heard saying in the video.

“What happened?” asks another LAPD officer.

“They’re remotely activating all the cameras.”

“Who is?”

“It’s coming back on again.”

“Yeah, I know. I just turned it off and saw it come back on again.”

“(Inaudible) called me. He said they were activating.”

“This (inaudible) got a camera.”

Apparently unaware their conversation could be heard, the cops on the scene denied having any cameras.

The Los Angeles citizen journalist who recorded the video and posted it to his youtube channel “Discarted” asked the two LAPD officers, “why did you put your body camera in the patrol unit?”

“We don’t have body cameras; we only have vehicle cameras.”

“You just had a body camera.”

“No, those aren’t cameras; those are microphones.”

“But I caught you on tape saying they’re activated. ‘Let’s put them in the car.'”

“Yeah, we have cameras . . . on all the vehicles.”

“I know, but you just put something in your patrol unit, telling him to put something in his patrol unit.”

The citizen journalist then asked the LAPD cop who denied having body cameras to identify himself.

But the officer refused to answer, and walked away.

Details about the shooting are scant, but LAPD officials have said that the two officers were in a vehicle on patrol when they encountered Luna, who as in his 40s and armed with a “bayonet-style weapon.”

Officers then shot Luna.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by firefighter-paramedics.

Las Cruces police say the man shot and killed by officers on Sunday lunged toward officers with a large knife, refusing to comply with orders to drop it. That’s when officers say they fired shots.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, 36-year-old Juan Gabriel Torres had multiple felonies on his record dating back to 2002 for aggravated battery, kidnapping and other crimes.

The Los Angeles Times obtained footage of the October 2014 encounter through a court order after the LAPD said the video was an investigative record exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

The officer who delivered the kick was Richard Garcia. Over the next 10 seconds of video, the 35-year-old officer with about a decade experience on the force also knees the man in the back, elbows him and punches him in the head, The Times video reveals.

Other officers involved in the arrest of Clinton Alford Jr., stand up and move away as Garcia appears to take charge.

At one point another officer returns and kicks Alford's legs to push them apart before appearing to stand on his ankles.

Garcia presses his knee into Alford's back for more than two minutes, relenting only when other officers help pick up the handcuffed man and drag him away.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck publicly condemned the use of force but tried to keep the video under wraps citing disciplinary actions against Garcia.

Garcia was charged with felony assault and struck a controversial plea deal in May.

Under the deal, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and was spared jail time. He was facing up to three years in prison if convicted of felony assault at trial.

He was given probation, community service and told to stay away from Alford and donate $500 to charity

A New Mexico police sergeant accused of unwittingly recording himself on a lapel camera taking marijuana from his office and giving it to his girlfriend has been released from jail.

KOB-TV in Albuquerque reported Saturday that Grants police Sgt. Roshern McKinney is out of jail.

It wasn't immediately known Sunday under what conditions he was released.

State police say McKinney was arrested Wednesday. An investigation was requested in July after the video recording was found.

He faces charges of distribution of marijuana, conspiracy and felony embezzlement.

According to state police, McKinney also allegedly embezzled $785 and an 8-ounce brick of marijuana not submitted to the department's evidence vault.

It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.

An Arkansas police officer is suing Glock after he accidentally shot himself in the foot.

According to Guns.com, Officer Larry Jones of Cherry Valley, Arkansas, is the plaintiff and is suing Glock after a 2013 incident when he shot himself with his Glock 19C pistol. Jones was reportedly trying to put a weapon light on his pistol when he shot himself in the foot. The officer claims that it was a defective gun which caused the accidental discharge.

After he had purchased the gun in 2000, Jones had not altered the gun at all, and he reportedly alleges that the gun was sold to him “in a defective condition which rendered (it) unreasonably dangerous.”

That must have been a rough 13 years shooting this dangerously “defective” gun. The part of the gun that was allegedly defective appears to be the manual safety on the Glock, that is, there is none.

Glock pistols (among others) are designed without a manual safety, but they have internal safeties that prevent them from firing unless the trigger is pulled. This is part of the guns’ design, and not a defect. The guns will still not fire unless somebody pulls the trigger on a loaded pistol.

While the news media would have you believe that federal law (Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act) makes it impossible to sue gun manufacturers, this is not the case. The law only protects gun manufacturers from being frivolously sued when firearms are used in a crime. There are no protections for gun manufacturers when they are alleged to have sold a defective product. This lawsuit is going forward because it claims that the gun was sold in a defective condition and that Glock failed to give “a reasonable and adequate warning of dangers inherent and/or reasonably foreseeable in the use.”

Larry Jones would not have been shot had he done any of the following:

• Unloaded his firearm before trying to add his light.
• Kept the gun pointed in a safe direction.
• Kept his finger off of the trigger.

Jones is seeking $75,000 for personal injury in the case. The jury trial is reportedly scheduled for August 21, 2017 in a federal court in Helena, Arkansas.

Last week, an innocent 84-year-old grandma was attacked by police, pepper sprayed, arrested, and hospitalized after officers chased her son during a traffic stop. On Friday, the graphic body camera video of that attack was released showing the horrid and outright insane response to her son rolling a stop sign.

Police were after the victim’s son, who they say refused to stop and ran into her home instead. When officers showed up, according to Smith and the body camera video, they kicked in her door and as she got up to see who was there — she was met with a face full of chemical agent.

“Turn around or I’ll spray you!” screams the cop just before dousing this innocent elderly woman in the face with the painful spray. Smith then falls to the ground in agony.

The body cam footage then shows police shoot her son with a taser because they said he refused to come out. With his hands in the air and walking toward police, Smith’s son was tased and fell to the ground.

All of this over a stop sign.

According to Smith, after police pepper sprayed her for no reason, they arrested her, dragged her to the police car and brought her to jail. Clearly stressed over being kidnapped and thrown in a cell, this 84-year-old grandma began to have a panic attack. She was then rushed to the hospital.

The Muskogee police department says they released the body camera footage to maintain public trust in an exhibit of transparency. While it’s certainly noteworthy to release the footage, the last thing this video does is maintain public trust in police.

When watching the horrifying video below, ask yourself if you think these cops would treat their own grandma this way. Ms. Smith had committed no crime and posed no danger to these officers, but she was still attacked and her life put at risk.

It was unclear as to what police charged the woman with, however, it is likely the standard ‘resisting, interfering, or obstructing.’

Smith now plans to take legal action against the department for her assault and the taxpayers, not police, will be held liable for this disturbing behavior.

Newly-released video undermines New York City police’s claim that a teenager was threatening them with a toy gun when they fired at him 16 times during a December 2013 encounter, the New York Daily News reported.

The footage shows Keston Charles, who was 15 years old at the time, running from officers, then limping, then putting his hands up with no sign of the BB gun he was reportedly carrying, which he allegedly took from a friend during a neighborhood fight and used to threaten another boy.

Charles served 18 months of probation in connection with the incident, and is reportedly trying to obtain his GED.

“I was scared for my life. I was trying to get away,” Charles said of the encounter. “I never been shot at before.”

Charles was hit three times — twice while surrendering at the front door of his apartment building in Brooklyn. Charles is now suing Officer Jonathan Rivera over the incident.

An attorney for the city of New York, Elissa Jacobs, said that Charles “did not put his hands up to surrender before any round of shots,” a statement apparently contradicted by the footage. According to court documents, officials said since Charles was only hit three times, it demonstrated “how fast he continued to move and that the threat to public safety had not been abated.”

Watch the footage, as posted by the Daily News, below.