Cops need their donuts.
A Texas police union jokingly called out a “tattling” driver who captured video of police officers doing doughnuts in a snow-covered parking lot — but the banter soon “off the rails.”
Hamon Brown’s Jan. 21 Facebook post of an unidentified Houston police officer ripping turns with a police cruiser in an empty lot didn’t get the reception he was hoping for.
The footage was captured as the region experienced a snowstorm with some parts getting up to 5-and-a-half inches of snow.
“Man look at HPD here, they out here doing doughnuts man, they got nothing else better to do,” Brown said in the video that has been liked over 5,000 times.
After Brown made the post, the Houston Police Officer’s Union fired back and pointed out Brown’s traffic infractions during the chaotic video.
Brown’s windshield was sporting a rather large, multi-arm crack covered in tape.
“Tag local auto glass repair companies. We’re looking for someone who can help Hamon Brown get his broken windshield repaired,” the union said in a Facebook post on Jan. 23.
In Texas, a driver could face fines if a crack in the windshield is larger than 3 inches or obstructs the driver’s view.
The union jokingly said Brown needed help paying for the repair since he didn’t earn money reporting the cop’s snow day antics.
“He didn’t get any Crime Stoppers money for s̷n̷i̷t̷c̷h̷i̷n̷g̷ tattling, so we need a good sponsor that can hook him up,” the post added.
Union President Doug Griffith defended the officer’s actions as a stress reliever while serving in a stressful career.
“We are human. We like to have a good time just like they do,” Griffith told ABC 13.
Griffith thought the banter was all in good fun but things soon went “off the rails a little bit.”
After the video and the union’s reaction went viral, Brown held a press conference and said he didn’t appreciate the union for making his life events public, adding that “he didn’t want no problems.”
The union in return shared the news clip.
“Never post anything on the internet you don’t want to see on the news… or the internet,” the post said.
The union found footage posted by Brown of him hopping out of a moving car on a busy street and climbing onto the windshield, where he began to “ghost ride” the vehicle.
Brown performed the dangerous stunt as an ambulance raced down the road with its lights and sirens on.
“Remember Hamon Brown? The hater that went on the news to run his mouth about police cars in the snow (in a parking lot)? #DontBeAHater #ComingDine #GotEeem,” the union said in a post on Jan. 26.
Griffith called out Brown’s hypocrisy, saying people can’t do the stunts he does and then turn around and call out others.
The union boss added the posts were all for fun, but Brown wasn’t feeling the love.
“It is really messing with me because ya’ll posting all my business on social media, ya’ll are doing a lot to me and getting me real scared,” Brown told the outlet., “I ain’t did nothing wrong. Ya’ll were in the wrong.”
He alluded to the officer’s misconduct was addressed and “taken care of.”
A criminology professor at the University of Houston Clear Lake jumped to Brown’s defense to call out the police union’s hypocrisy claiming the joking from the union would stop people from reporting cop misconduct.
“They are trying to be dismissive of their behavior by saying the young men were doing something similar, but do two wrongs make a right?” Kimberly Dodson told ABC 13.
The union reassured the public that there wouldn’t be consequences for reporting police officers actions.
“We don’t go out there hunting people for complaining about police officers. That is not what we do,” Griffith said.
Dodson also claimed the officers’ doughnuts caused damage to the tax-payer-funded vehicles, but Griffth says he inspected the cars and there was no damage.
