King County sheriff says detective off streets over traffic stop

Video shows a plain-clothes King County sheriff's detective approaching motorcyclist Alex Randall with his gun already drawn.

"What are you doing?" Randall asked the detective.

“What do you mean, what am I doing?" the detective shouted back. "What are you (expletive) driving around. Give me your driver's license or I'm going to knock you off this bike."

"I will pull over," Randall responded. "I'm unarmed."

The sheriff's reaction to the video Randall recorded was swift.

"He pulled a gun on a motorcycle rider on a traffic stop," Sheriff John Urquhart said.

"That is the big issue. And we need to get to the bottom of why."

Randall spoke about the ordeal he experienced while out on his motorcycle Monday night.

He said he couldn't hear what the deputy was saying through his helmet and he was frightened.

"I'm literally, staring at the gun," he said.

"And I'm staring at the slide on his gun. I'm staring at his finger. And I'm just hoping that he doesn't, like that's all I can think of.

That's the whole thing that was happening.

For the first 30 seconds, I was I just don't want to get shot."

The detective said he pulled Randall over because the motorcyclist was speeding but did not give him a ticket.

The 31-year-old Shoreline man admits he is an aggressive driver.

And plenty of people eagerly confirmed that on social media.

"What do you feel about that in relationship to what you saw on the video?" the sheriff was asked.

"If you are to believe what these detractors are saying, if you are to believe what the detective said on the tape," Urquhart said, "I have no doubt that he is a menace on the road and he needs to clean up his act. No question about that. But that has nothing to do with the conduct of my detective. And that's what I'm concerned with."

The sheriff would not identify the detective except to say he is 53 years old and that he is a nearly 19-year veteran.

But the sheriff says he is glad Randall shot that video. He says it's more proof that his deputies need to wear body cameras.

Cox Media Group