UPDATE January 9 2012: Wktv.com has posted
the full length video of the arrest to show that police got the drugs in question from the vehicle's occupants before searching the vehicle. You decide.
January 4, 2012: It took a while to go public, but the
Utica Phoenix recently got its hands on an alleged police dash cam video from February 11, 2011, that shows the arrest of an African American couple, and what looks like a police officer planting evidence in the couple's vehicle as he searches it. The video, which was posted on January 2, 1012, went viral. It shows Officers Palladino and Pudulla frisk the couple, and then shows one of the officers take what looks like a baggie, contents unknown, out of his pocket (left), search the SUV, and then remove a baggie from the vehicle (right). The officer then walks out of the camera's view carrying the baggie. Utica Police Chief Williams responded to questions about the video saying, "We have an on-going internal affairs investigation regarding this matter, therefore I am not able to speak about it." The F.B.I. is investing the incident.
Watch the video