A few months back, a police body cam video made waves as it showed a Texas police officer seemingly willing to arrest a man for driving through a parking lot. The officer claimed that the driver sped through the lot and nearly caused an accident. Now, a new video seems to indicate that wasn’t the case.
On April 29th, 2023, now-former Texas City Police Officer Scott Harrell was sitting in a parking spot in a Buccee’s parking lot. He saw Christopher Shull drive a Hyundai Elantra through open spaces in the lot and over to a fuel pump. Harrell pulled in behind Shull and began a traffic stop for failing to follow a traffic control device.
Over the course of the next 23 minutes, Harrell berates Shull, handcuffs him, puts him in the back of his patrol car, and then ultimately lets him go. According to Harrell, Shull had sped through the lot and then was disrespectful and non-compliant. He only let him go with a citation after another officer arrived at the scene.
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Video obtained by Click2Houston shows Shull driving into the lot, past the parked patrol car, and into the gas station stall. At no point do his actions appear to be overly fast or dangerous to any others around him. In fact, as Shull claims, the officer can’t write a ticket for a traffic infraction in a private parking lot.
Roughly one month ago, Harrell was still employed but serving on inside administrative duty while an internal affairs investigation continued. As of September 8th, he’s no longer with the department according to the new police chief Landis Cravens. Cravens took to Facebook to denounce the behavior of Harrell and explain the decision to suspend (terminate) him.
“The decision was made after a thorough review of the circumstances and in line with our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and community service,” he said. Harrell’s peace officer license has not yet been suspended which means that he could end up hired by a different department elsewhere.