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Police in Connecticut on Wednesday released body camera footage that shows an officer making a gunpoint stop of New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, whose car was still mistakenly reported as being stolen last week.
The video shows the 52-year-old Cashman last Friday calmly exiting his Jeep Wrangler at a Darien, Connecticut, gas station, with his hands raised in the air, as the officer yells at him to get out of the vehicle.
“Driver turn off your car and put your hands up!,” the officer yells on the video, which shows him pointing his pistol in Cashman’s direction. “Put your hands out the window!”
The Bronx Bombers executive Cashman had reported his Jeep stolen a week earlier from his home in nearby Norwalk. After it was recovered by police in New York and returned to Cashman, New York cops never removed the vehicle from a list of stolen vehicles.
Cashman told Hearst Connecticut Media on Monday that he was headed to the Norwalk Police Department to have the Jeep checked for evidence when he was stopped by Darien cops.
“I started to pull out when two SUVs from Darien Police blocked me from exiting from the front, and they closed the Post Road,” he said.
“They asked me if I was driving my vehicle because it was still reported as stolen,” he said.
Cashman told the outlet that he got out “without rash movement” as officers instructed.
“They were very professional,” he said. “Once they got my ID, and searched my car, they realized,” Cashman said.
Darien police have said that the incident was part of a chain of events set in motion at about 10:40 a.m. on Friday, when the department was notified by a local medical group that a male patient had been seen there in possession of a handgun.
“The patient had already completed his physical and left the office when the initial report was made to the police,” Darien police said. “Officers were responding to the Medical Group in order to meet with the staff to ascertain exactly what had transpired with the patient.”
“Once it was confirmed that the patient had already left the office and had possibly been driving a white, Jeep like vehicle, officers began checking the surrounding area,” police said. “Within minutes, a white Jeep was observed in the Shell gas station on Boston Post Road at Sedgewick Ave. The license plate of this vehicle was checked by officers and it was found to be listed as a stolen vehicle.”
“As the vehicle started to leave the pumps, it was stopped by Darien officers. Felony motor vehicle stop procedures were utilized where two Darien officers did un-holster and had their duty weapons in hand. The operator, quickly identified as Mr. Brian Cashman of Norwalk, CT, was fully cooperative with all commands and instructions given by the officers conducting the stop and the encounter was quickly, efficiently and properly deescalated. It was also quickly determined that Mr. Cashman was the true owner of the vehicle.”
Police said that “no force of any type was actually used by officers; Mr. Cashman noted the professionalism and obvious training of the involved officers who were able to successfully bring this incident to the proper conclusion.”
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
