SANTA ANA — Now-former Officer Jacob Swigger has been charged with two felony counts, one for excessive force and one for assault with a firearm, according to repoets.
The charges stem from a road rage incident in which Officer Swigger is reported to have rammed a 50-yr-old man’s body into the metal frame of a vehicle.
It began when the man changed lanes in front of Officer Swigger, according to reports.
Although the lane change was perfectly legally appropriate, Officer Swigger became enraged and began chasing the man for approximately 1.5 miles, according to reports.
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Though he was dressed in plainclothes, Officer Swigger was an active duty police officer at the time of the incident, and was actually on his way to the department to start the day’s work, according to reports.
After driving behind the unsuspecting man for quite some time, Officer Swigger then accelerated more and drove in front of the man, according to reports.
Officer Swigger’s maneuver cut the man off, forcing him to stop.
Once Officer Swigger had the man stopped, he pulled out his gun and began wielding it at the the man.
Pointing his gun at the poor man, Officer Swigger told him to “step out” of his vehicle, according to reports.
Fearing for his safety, the man obviously didn’t get out of his car.
That’s when Officer Swigger is said to have grabbed the man and yanked him out of his car.
Officer Swigger then began slamming the man’s body into the metal frame of the car over and over again, reports say.
Officer Swigger then pressed his gun to the victim’s head as if threatening to murder him in the street, according to reports.
Escalating things even further, Officer Swigger then dragged the man’s body behind his vehicle — the dragging occurred in the middle of traffic, according to prosecutors.
Concerned citizens who saw the abuse reported it immediately and Officer Swigger was stopped.
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Fortunately, citizens acted fast enough to spare the man from further abuse and possibly death.
When the man didn’t immediately come out, Swigger is accused of pulling him out, repeatedly slamming him a
“Mr. Swigger is no longer employed by the city of Signal Hill,” said Signal Hill Police Chief Michael Langston in a prepared statement.
Officer Swigger has been set free on $50k bail and is due to appear in court for arraignment in late March.