SELMA – An internal investigation is underway after video of a traffic stop by the Selma Police Department has gone viral.
Matt Sanders of Raleigh, the operator of Encore Automotive in Smithfield, says he was stopped by two Selma police officers while driving a customer’s car to a body shop to have the bumper repaired.
Sanders recorded the traffic stop with his cellphone camera and alleges one of the police officers deleted the original video recording from the cell phone. Later, he was able to recover the deleted video and shared on YouTube.
Sanders said he was leaving a convenience store on US 70 and drove past two police officers in their marked cruisers in the parking lot. “As I rode by them they looked up at me and followed me out of the gas station. As soon as I passed Ricks Road they stopped me. One officer ran up to my driver window and the other to my passenger window yelling (for me) get out of the car. That’s when I started recording them… and put the camera on the dashboard.”
“I’m not disputing anything about the traffic stop. My complaint, my biggest concern, is he deleted the video and I recovered it from my deleted file. My main complaint is deleting the video from my cell phone and stopping the recording on my cell phone,” Sanders said, adding he was able to recover the recording later that night from his recently delete photo file.
“I didn’t understand why an officer would stop my video and why he would delete my video. At that moment it made me extremely terrified.”
Sanders says he wants the officer who allegedly deleted the cell phone video to admit what happened and resign. “He does not need to be a police officer in this area or anywhere else unless he does some serious sole-searching. He doesn’t need to be in uniform. I don’t feel like I was violated because of color, I was violated because I was human. You have one officer doing his job and never raised his voice and another officer screaming. I would never be talking about the officer screaming had he not deleted the file. I want to know why he would try to delete it.”
Sanders says he thinks Selma Police should review other traffic stops made by the officer in question. He filed a formal complaint with the Selma Police Department on September 25.
Sanders says he has been contacted by Selma Police and according to him they want the NCSBI to do a forensic examination of his cell phone to confirm his story. Sanders says he has no problem with the forensic review which he says will validate his claim.
Selma Police Chief J.A. Hughes was unavailable for a comment on Thursday.
We were able to reach Mayor Byron McAllister who released the following statement. “Our Selma Police Department is aware of the video that has surfaced and are conducting a full investigation. We believe the video is from a traffic stop that occurred on Thursday, September 19, 2024. An official complaint was filed yesterday, September 25, 2024, by the individual from the video with the department. Since this is an ongoing internal investigation, I currently have no other information.”
Johnston County Report obtained a copy of the complaint filed by Mr. Sanders. It says in part, “The situation escalated in a way that I believe causes serious concerns about police misconduct and treatment of citizens… Fortunately I was able to recover the video, but the experience left me shaken and questioning the integrity of those sworn to protect us.”
During the first 24 hours, the YouTube video titled “Cop Caught Deleting Video While Searching Car” has been viewed more than 150,000 times. There have been more than 1,600 comments.
One person wrote, “An officer deleting someone’s recording should be fired on the spot and charged with tampering.” Another person said, “I am 100% sure that after a thorough investigation they will conclude there was no wrongdoing by the officers.”
Mayor McAllister did not say how long the internal investigation would take to complete.
