LAKE FOREST, CA — A 50-year-old man from California, who uses a cane to walk, was brutally abused by a police officer at least 10 years his junior.
The man, who witnesses say was trembling after the horrific incident, was so shaken he declined treatment despite having suffered several cuts and abrasions.
On the morning of November 20 last year Officer Jacob Swigger, who is no longer employed by the police department, found himself behind a Mazda in morning rush hour traffic on the northbound I-5 in Irvine.
Swigger was dressed in civilian clothes and driving a private vehicle.
This is when a Mazda, he says, abruptly “changed lanes” in front of him.
This evidently threw Officer Swigger into a fit of rage and he continued to drive behind the car for at least a mile, honking all the while.
The officer then drove up alongside the Mazda and turned sharply in front it, according to reports.
This forced the driver to stop suddenly.
What happened next is what onlookers describe as a scene from an action thriller.
Officer Swigger jumped out of his car holding his gun in the middle of the freeway.
He then held the gun to the disabled man’s head and after identifying himself as a police officer, asked the driver to step out of his car, reports say.
The enraged police officer got more violent when the man did not obey his instructions right away.
In a bout of fury he dragged the driver out of the Mazda, which forced the partially immobile man to fall to the ground.
However, Swigger’s attorney John Barnett says his client’s actions were “justified.”
The lawyer says the driver of the Mazda cut Swigger off several times, hence putting him at risk. He says the police officer acted within his powers.
This is despite multiple witnesses, including members of law enforcement, testifying that Swigger left his victim badly shaken.
California Highway Patrol Officer Cody Gil responded to the incident that day.
He says the other driver was trembling.
“He looked very scared,” he told the court.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Guerrero Macias ordered Swigger to stand trial on the two felony counts.
He is going to reappear in court on September 22.
