A police chief in the United States has been forced to issue a grovelling public apology after footage emerged showing one of his squad cars driving through city streets with a rifle left on its roof.
Viral Video Captures Dangerous Oversight
The incident occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, where a video posted to social media showed the marked police vehicle on patrol with the firearm clearly visible on top of the car. The potentially dangerous situation was only discovered when a member of the public alerted the officers after they stopped at a red light.
Police Chief Michael McTaggart addressed the incident on Monday, stating that one of his officers had "made a serious mistake" and acknowledging the video had caused "an understandable reaction of disappointment and concern" among the public.
Citizen Intervention Prevents Potential Disaster
The video was shared on Facebook by Cynthia Brown, who captured her friend, Andrea Jones, approaching the police car to inform the officer about the misplaced rifle. Brown told the Des Moines Register that she spotted the weapon while driving and followed the squad car until it stopped at a traffic light.
Jones described the officer's reaction, saying "he looked completely boggled" when she alerted him. "He gets out of the car, and again, still stunned, and he literally said to me, 'I wonder how that got there?'" she recalled.
Social media users expressed shock at the footage, with one commenting "Someone could've gotten a free high powered rifle had that fallen off," while another joked "He left his gun on top of his car like I leave my cup of coffee on the top of mine sometimes."
Internal Review Launched Following Policy Violation
Chief McTaggart emphasised that while "officers are human and will make mistakes, policing comes with heavy responsibility and mistakes have an impact." He confirmed the officer shown in the video wasn't the one who made the error, but that the responsible officer had confessed.
Public Information Officer Sergeant Paul Parizek explained to local ABC affiliate KCCI that the sequence of events began during a shift change. The previous officer had placed the rifle on the vehicle's roof and forgotten about it, while the arriving officer failed to notice the weapon before driving away.
Parizek noted "I think we've all had a situation in our lives when we've misplaced something, we're looking for it. We walk by it two or three different times. That might help explain it. But it definitely does not excuse what happened."
The police chief confirmed that the policy violations were "obvious" and that the department is conducting an internal review. However, the department has not yet announced what consequences, if any, the officer involved will face.
