Okay, stop right there. Get down on your knees. Do not move. Do you understand? Like pointed at you or pointed at me? So I go like this? Yeah. And it's just Yeah. reaches down, grabs a pistol, goes like this. On April 26th, 2024, a young man named Jake reported a terrifying encounter on a Washington highway where an offduty female police officer, Melinda, allegedly pointed a pistol at him during a road rage dispute. Washington state law, specifically RCW9.41.270, states, "It shall be unlawful for any person to carry, exhibit, display, or draw any firearm in a manner, under circumstances, and at a time and place that either manifests an intent to intimidate another, or that warrants alarm for the safety of other persons." Jake described merging onto 196th Street when Melinda's vehicle nearly hit him, swerving across lanes without signaling. at a stoplight after Jake gestured in frustration. Melinda reportedly reached for her pistol, held it up, and pointed it at him through her closed window. Jake, fearing for his life, immediately called 911, describing the small handgun and his shot. Body camera's going to be rolling. Okay. All right. What's Jake? Jake. Officer Hendricks. Nice to meet you. Officer, nice to meet you. Um, just hang tight. I got to get a statement from you. Um, no, no, no. I I uh wasn't even there. It was someone else. Oh, yeah. I mean, someone was there. Um, so, uh, I need your name, date of birth, address, phone number, right? Um, basically what happened Describe the vehicle, describe the driver, describe the gun. Okay. Yeah. Um, you know, and say, "I wish, you know, be a victim of crime or charges." All right. I got you. Um, do you think you can get that done in a few minutes or you you I mean, I know it's cold, so your morning. Yeah, I'll I'll roll in there with you. Let me just grab my keys. All right. Thanks, man. This I didn't know. I thought this was an apartment. It's a door for downstairs. Oh, stairs. Yeah. We have our bedroom right up here. Oh, okay. What are you doing? I work for RV. Oh, nice. As cool, cool, cool, cool. Oh, yeah. This is a lot warmer than being out there, dude. Just so I understand. So, you're coming from off the freeway. Yeah. Driving off. You're going southbound? Yeah. Taking on the first exit. And so, that's the exit 196. Mhm. Okay. And like where it merges? Yeah. Okay. So, you're getting off the freeway. Where was the other vehicle coming? Next. So, they were already on 196. Got it. Okay. And I come in right across. So you merge. Yeah. Okay. And then No, no. She was on the highway with me. Next to me. She next to me going east and she crossed over and hit almost hit the the barricade in the middle of of the deal where it goes. She was on the highway. What do you mean? Oh. Oh, she was she was she would needed to get over to go west. Got it. Okay. And I didn't see no blank. I really wasn't looking to my left. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz you think people That's a big pet peeve of mine. people to wait till the last minute to get over. Yeah. Okay. So, she gets in front of you, right? Almost hits you. Yeah. Almost hit me. And then you guys go up to 196. You're stopped at the light. I stopped at the light next to the Jack in the Box. So, that's 40th. Yeah. Straight on. So, you turned right at the Jack in the Box and I kept going straight. Okay. And that's where you guys were. And And walk me through. Okay. So, if she was going to go right on 44th and you were going to be going west. West 186. And you look at her. What does she look like? Like kind of just went like this. Turned around like Yeah. What are you thinking? Okay. You know, and she looked at me and she goes, and I just like, okay, you know, just wipe it off. Next thing you know, she reaches under either her chair or her side door and grabs out a pistol and puts it up to the window and she went like this, like pointed at you or pointed at me and so like So, okay. So, cuz I want to get this right. So, you're in your car. Yeah. Okay. So, wait. So, you be her and I'll be you. Sorry. I just want to get this. Okay. And I'll get it on camera. So, I'm pretend I'm facing this way. So, right. I'm looking. You're her. Uh-huh. Okay. Then what? You went like this. Like this. So, I go like this. Yeah. And she's Yeah. Reaches down, grabs a pistol, goes like this, and out. Was her window open or It was closed. Closed. Okay. So, she wouldn't have been able to go I mean like like this. He went like this. Okay. You know, [ __ ] you. Okay, dude. That's I I couldn't do anything cuz I was stuck. There was cars in front of me. I just sat there. I was like I literally just put my hands up. I was like, "Well, this is it. This is it." You know, I I didn't understand. Yeah. That's crazy. Do I need to write it down though? Even though you got me. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So, he they're driving southbound on uh I5. He's on the right side getting off to go west on 196. No. So then she's in the eastbound to go like other exit the eastbound exit. She swerves over almost intermediate and then they somehow get to the light of the box in 196. He looks over and goes like this. She looks over and goes like this. Then he sees her reach down points gets a gun and then he points it out. completed it and the statement says I'll go and double check. Hey, sorry. Can I see your statement? Hey, give me a second. Let me call you in a second. So, did she flash the gun or did she point the gun? She flashed it and pointed it and she went up at the window and went like this and I went like this and I put my hands up like this and she got in the right lane and turned right at the uh on 196 at the um Jack in the Box. I I was scared. I literally went like this and I grabbed my phone and called 911 immediately. Can you you know anything about guns? No. I was trying to figure out what kind of gun it was. I mean, it was a it was a handheld pistol. Was super small. It was a little All right. Sorry about that. About what? Well, that I just took off. Oh, no. All right, we're good. Uh, signed it, dated it. All right. Thanks, man. Just hang t, right? Yeah. Sorry. What is that enough or do we need? Yes. We just need to make sure whether it was pointed or whether it was just a plate cuz that's the difference between unoff. Wow. So neither one of them is good. Oh. Yeah. Neither one is good, but one is worse. One, you're going to county me and the other one you're probably getting the citation, but Wow. Okay. How many occupants? All right, let's keep it cool, calm, collected. We'll just call her out. Have her take a step out to the left and come in between the two vehicles. Perfect. I got no driver with your left hand, open up the door from the outside. Do it now. Officer Brown, Officer Sap, switch spots, please. Keep your hands up and step out of the vehicle. Do it now. Sap, you're going to be my hands. We're going to get a frisk down first. Turn around and face away from me. With your left hand, pick up the back of your shirt. Go ahead and spin around 360 for me. Okay, with your hands up, slowly walks. Walk backwards towards the sound of my voice. Yep. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. You're doing good. Keep coming. Okay, stop right there. Keep coming. Get down on your knees. Do not move. Do you understand? All right, I'm going to push you down real quick. All right, I'm going to sit you up. I'm going to bring it back up here. [Applause] All right. Is this your vehicle, ma'am? It is. Yes. Okay. I'm just going to read you something real quick and then I'm going to chat. Okay. Understood. All right. So, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right at this time to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you while being questioned. You cannot afford to hire a lawyer. One will be appointed to represent you before questioning if you wish. You can decide at any time to exercise these rights and answer any question, make any statements. Do you understand your rights? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Um, what's going on today? Sounds like there was some issues back there at the traffic light. Yep. Okay. What's going on? So Melinda, an off-duty officer and National Guard reservist, claimed she acted in response to Jake's aggressive driving and threatening gestures, asserting she only displayed her holstered Glock 42, not pointed it. Washington's assault secondderee statute RCW9A.36.021 notes that a person is guilty if they assault another with a deadly weapon, which can include pointing a firearm with intent to cause fear. Melinda argued Jake road raged her, swerving toward her car and making a finger gun gesture, prompting her to show her pistol as a defensive reaction. She insisted, "I never pointed it at him. It was in its holster." However, Jake's statement and the body camera evidence suggested otherwise, leading officers to determine probable cause for assault secondderee, a felony rather than unlawful display, a lesser offense. This discrepancy underscores the fine line between self-defense and unlawful conduct, particularly for an officer expected to deescalate volatile situations. Driving southbound on I5. Okay. Um I went to go merge to get off of 196. Um had my turn sign on for ever. Um that dude kept trying to get closer and closer. It didn't want to let me in. Um I was about to miss the exit on 196. Um, I squeezed in between him and the other vehicle, put up my hand, continued driving off of the exit. He started road raging at me, got up on my bumper, flashed his lights at me the entire time we were coming off of the exit at 196. Um, got up to uh the next as we were coming up to the next stoplight. He swerved over into the left lane really quickly um off of my driver's side. Um got up next to me and then when he got towards the front of my car, he jerked his wheel trying to act like he was like juke me like he was going to come get into my lane. Um I slammed on my brakes. He did it again and then when we ended up next to each other at the stoplight, he put up his hands in a like a finger gun motion at me. Mhm. Um, I picked up mine, my pistol. It's in the glove compartment now. Um, picked up my pistol and showed it to him as well. Okay. And then put it back down. He waved at me and then that was it. Is it So, where is it now? It's in the glove compartment. Okay. All right. So, there's a pistol in the [Music] [Applause] There you go. Hi there. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Belinda. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Uh, not from now. Oh, okay. Yeah. you uh I am with a unit down at JB. Okay. I just Oh, nice. Congratulations. Thank you. Where where'd you just come out of? Oh, all right. So, Melinda, um we've done our thing. We've looked at the the whole totality of the circumstances, the whole bit. Um this point, the PC's assault, too for for pointing the firearm at pointed at. He's saying I did not I did not point it out. Kind of the the line that we have here is well you know as well as I do. Weapons apparently capable of producing bodily harm. Brandishing sold too. Sorry. Sorry there. I I'm in the lane. He comes up. He swoops his car towards me. He scoops his car towards me again, which we all know that vehicles can be used as deadly weapons. Okay, he gets up beside me. I finally look over at him. He points finger guns at me. He points at me. I picked mine up with my left hand. I'm right-handed, picked it up. It's in its holster. I just held it up in its holster. not even in any sort of configuration. I did not point it at him just and then put it back down and then he continued like making hand motions at me. He the light turned green. Traffic started going. He still I pulled into the other lane and I turned north to get away from him. I never pointed it at him. I never held it in a configuration that I couldn't be pointed at him in any way whatsoever. He he road raged me the whole way off. Like as soon as we we hit the exit, I'm backing away from the car in front of me to give them more space. He's on my bumper, flashing his lights at me, road raging me the whole time, coming up on my bumper. I I'm using my turn signals. I get over into this center left lane. He swerves around onto the left side of me. He road rages me all the way up the road. He swoops his car in towards me multiple times. I don't react to any of that other than to make sure that I hit my brakes so that he he's not behind me anymore. I'm not breaking him, but I hit my brakes to make sure that he didn't hit the front end of my car. And then like I was on the phone with my mom like I was I was talking to my mom. He gets up next to me. He points at me like he's like he's going to shoot me. Mhm. I just held it up. I didn't I didn't point at him. I didn't threaten him with it. Like it's it's in his holster in the exact configuration that it's in right now. Like I didn't I never I never I didn't I didn't act aggressively with it in any way. Like he just he made the threatening motion towards me. I did not make a threatening motion towards him. It was it was all a reaction to his road rage towards my vehicle. Like I wouldn't do that. All right. Well, let me with that information. Let me talk to my commander, please. I'll I'll have a chat with him. I I I understand. I I I know. I know, Brandon Machine. Yep. Absolutely. I I [ __ ] up. I should have just kept it right in the door, not even messed with it. But he indicated at me in a threatening motion with the finger guns. That's the only reason I did it. It wasn't unprovoked. It wasn't I didn't I didn't just grab it and point it at him. I didn't flash a gun at him just for the sake of flashing a gun at him. He pointed finger guns at me after he made multiple attempts towards my car juking towards my car trying to run my make me swerve. I I was not road raging at all. I I wouldn't do that. I sure as hell wouldn't point a gun at somebody. Yeah, we all know better. Yeah, like I would I would absolutely never do that. All right, sit tight for me for just a second. I'll show you. All right, I've heard everything you you've had to say. My hands are tied. All right. Sorry, I got to do this. Okay. You throw them back for me? Yeah. Um, please. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. We won't forget those. Any shoulder issues or any reason why you might need two cuffs? And two fingers that side. And two fingers on the other side. Not too tight for you. Okay. Two fingers there. Two fingers the other side. We're going to double lock here. Left and double lock right. I would like consent to search your vehicle. Is that something you're willing to provide? [Applause] Is the alternative you're going to take my car? You know, I can't tell you that. Yeah, it's fine. What's that? Yes, that's fine. You can search the vehicle. Okay. I'm just going to get a consent of search form started and uh we'll go that route. You're going to hang out with Officer Sap who's going to search you. All right. So, type for me. We got her purse and everything for her her wallet and whatnot. Have a wallet. Okay. I put the wallet in her property. Okay. In with her property. Good. This is hard as sir. Glock 42. Yes. What is a Glock 42? Oh, really? Looked like the slide was a little louder. Really? People like this would be cool with a 9 mm. That's what I carry on my ankle. Despite her protests, Melinda was arrested, handcuffed, and read her Miranda rights as officers searched her vehicle, recovering the Glock 42, from the glove compartment. Washington's law on police misconduct, RCW43.101.05, 05 allows for officer discipline, including suspension when conduct violates public trust, stating the commission may deny, suspend, or revoke certification of a peace officer for conduct that would constitute a crime involving moral turpitude. Although Melinda faced no immediate charges, her department placed her on leave pending investigation, reflecting the seriousness of her actions as an offduty officer. The arrest captured on body camera shows her acknowledging her mistake. This case raises questions about accountability as an officer's misuse of a firearm, even offduty, erodess public trust and demands scrutiny to ensure justice is served. Like and subscribe for more police cam stories. Watch the next recommended video. Click to watch now.