It was an embarrassing verbal slugfest and a turf war between cops.
The anger, the swearing, and a gun pulled from a holster, all played out on the New Jersey Turnpike in front of two suspects pulled over by a plain clothes policeman.
The state trooper who confronts the undercover cop was skeptical about the whole thing.
That's when the fur flies.
It's all about perception; plainclothes cops were outraged that a fellow officer, a state trooper, pulled a gun on them.
The trooper claims he was just being cautious.
The result was an ugly confrontation.
The fallout was that two Bergen County Police Officers were disciplined.
The confrontation, first obtained by Cliffviewpilot.com, begins when a New Jersey State trooper, Jeremy Mickewicz, unholsters his gun as he approaches an unmarked police van with police lights that has stopped a car on the Turnpike in Leonia, New Jersey.
Bergen County Police Officer Robert Douboue sees the gun.
"I want to see your ID," Mickewicz said.
"I'm county police. Don't pull your weapon, brother," Douboue said.
"Shut your *expletive* mouth, I'll do it if I want to," Mickewicz said.
State police say the trooper was responding to a series of carjackings where robbers posed as undercover officers, but the war of words escalated over the pulled gun.
"You better have a good reason why you are whipping out your weapon," Douboue said.
"I do. Armed robbery," Mickewicz said.
At one point, the trooper pushes the cop, and it gets even more heated when Bergen County Police Sergeant Gabriel Escobar arrives.
"Shut your *expletive* mouth. Get out of my *expletive* face," Escobar said.
"You don't know what's going on out there. You didn't give me an *expletive* chance," Mickewicz said.
"You pulled an *expletive* gun on me, you scumbag. If you weren't in uniform, I'd wipe the street with you," Douboue said.
All of this happened, as two suspects pulled over by the Bergen County Police Officer sat in their car.
"You pulled a *expletive* gun on me, you are the *expletive* police, you scumbag. You have my ID. If I pulled my gun on you, how would you feel, if I pulled my gun on you, how would you feel?" Douboue said.
"I've tried to explain this to you. We've had a rash of them the past month, a rash of three of police impersonators," Mickewicz said.
"Arrest the police impersonators, so don't come out here *expletive* rocking a *expletive* uniform pretending that you are better than anyone," Douboue said.
The Superintendent of the State police said he stands firmly behind the actions of the trooper.
The Chief of the Bergen County Police made a comment about his officers.
"I think they could have handled it differently," Chief Brian Higgins, of the Bergen County Police said, "I understand they were angry, to have a gun pulled out at you by a fellow officer. The actions of our officers and the words they used are not part of our procedure, but they're human, it's been addressed, I can tell you that."
---
If you have a tip about this or any other issue you'd like investigated, please give our tipline a call at 877-TIP-NEWS. You may also e-mail us at the.investigators@abc.com.
Follow Jim Hoffer on Twitter at twitter.com/nycinvestigates and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jimhoffer.wabc
Follow Sarah Wallace on Twitter at twitter.com/sarahwallacetv and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sarahwallace.wabc
