Cop Threatens to “Blow a Hole Through Your Head” Over Minor Traffic Violation

Cop Threatens to “Blow a Hole Through Your Head” Over Minor Traffic Violation

Cassius Methyl
July 28, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) Medford, MA — Police Detective Stephen Lebert was recently placed on administrative leave after he threatened to “blow a hole through [a man’s] f—ing head.”

It was one of the first phrases uttered by the plainclothes detective after he pulled over a man for a minor traffic violation.

He continued to say, “You’re lucky I’m a f—ing cop. Cause I’d be beating the f—ing piss outta you right now.”

The man who was threatened, a 25-year old-software developer, uploaded dashcam footage of the incident to Youtube. He conveniently had a dashcam in his car in the event of a car accident that needed documentation, but its presence provided accountability in an unexpected way.

In the description of the Youtube video, he said,

“Driving home today I got lost and made a wrong turn. In an unfamiliar area I drove slowly but made the mistake of not seeing a poorly marked rotary. I stopped midway through it when I realized I screwed up and fortunately there were no close calls or potential accidents. Only a single oncoming car (not the medford [sic] cop/detective in the video, he was on the other side) that had fully stopped before the rotary seeing my stupid mistake. After I stopped and realized it was too late I just continued out of the way and back onto the correct road in front of me. This man starts tailgating me and puts his high beams on in his Red Chevy Silverado pick up truck. He then yells how I’m an asshole and that he is going to hurt me, and well the rest is in the video.

The date is incorrect as my dashcam apparently was set wrong. I very rarely ever need to pull videos off of it over the period of time I’ve owned it and just didn’t notice the date mistake. The time however is right.”

The following is a transcript of the conversation between the plainclothes officer in the truck and the driver:

Lebert: “I’ll put a hole right through your f—ing head.”

Driver: “I didn’t know you were a cop.”

Lebert: “I’ll put a hole right through your head.”

Driver: “Okay, okay, okay, okay.”

Lebert: “I’m a f—ing Medford detective. And you went through that f—ing Rotary.”

Driver: “I didn’t see a sign. I didn’t see a sign –”

Lebert: “Give me your license.” … “Don’t worry, there will be a cruiser here in two seconds.”

Driver: “Sorry, I didn’t see that sign.”

Lebert: “You’re lucky I’m a f—ing cop. Cause I’d be beating the f—ing piss outta you right now.”

Driver: “Geez.”

Lebert: “Gimme your license.”

Driver: “I just wanna let you know–”

Lebert: “Gimme your license!”

Driver: “I also wanna let you know–”

Lebert: “Gimme your license!”

Driver: “Okay, I just wanna let you know I also have a dash camera.”

(Lebert walks away from vehicle, then turns around and starts walking back toward it, shouting.)

Lebert: “So I’ll seize that. I’m gonna seize that camera when you almost hit that car head-on when you went through the rotary the wrong way.”

Driver: “I didn’t see the rotary. Yeah I—I messed up.”

Lebert: “I’m seizing your camera. Thanks a lot.”

Later on during the video, another exchange:

Driver: “I thought you had a gun, so I got scared.”

Lebert: “I didn’t show you the gun. I showed you my badge and ID.”

Driver: “All I see is you reaching through your pocket, and you’re coming at me aggressively. I’m gonna run. It’s scary.”

Lebert: “You almost hit a car head-on.”

Lebert then orders the driver to shut his car off. He complies. At one point, Lebert accuses the driver of trying to flee the scene, which he denies.

There’s a break in the video, and then the driver appears to be speaking to other bystanders and asking them to stick around and support his story to other police officers who have showed up at the scene.

Driver: “I thought that guy was gonna kill me. He was yelling at me. I was super scared.”

Then the driver has an exchange with a different officer who has arrived at the scene:

Driver: “I don’t know who that guy is.”

Cop: “That’s one of our detectives.”

Driver: “Yeah, he told me that. But, I didn’t know that, and he was super aggressive at me. He was yelling. And he jumped out of his truck, and he yells that he’s gonna blow my brains out. And so I got scared and I threw it into reverse. I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Like I don’t know this guy. He’s got tattoos, he’s got wifebeaters. Where i’m from—I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts—it’s a rough area. When someone says they got a gun, they usually got a gun. So I’m like, ‘Oh, my god. I’ve gotta get the hell outta here.’”

Video of the incident can be viewed here.



This officer has a history of using force against people with cameras. In this 2012 video, Lebert is seen licking his finger and trying to wipe it on the lens of a camera.



his article (Cop Threatens to “Blow a Hole Through Your Head” Over Minor Traffic Violation) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Cassius Methyl and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].

Cassius Methyl joined Anti-Media as an independent journalist in March of 2014. His topics of interest include thinking, creating a future, deep spirituality, and astrology. He resides in Sacramento, California. Learn more about Methyl here!