Oklahoma Police Are Being Looked Into for Slamming an Innocent Dad to the Ground for Taking a Suspicious Walk With His Son

On video from their body cameras, two police officers in Watonga, Oklahoma, hit a father to the ground while he was walking his son early in the morning. The state is now investigating the officers.

Local news sources were told by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) that they are looking into whether the two Watonga officers used too much force when they physically detained John Sexton on July 4 morning.

People are so angry about what happened that they have called the police, local news outlets, and even the county sheriff, who has officially asked the officers to be put on leave.

Around 6 a.m., Sexton was walking with his autistic 6-year-old son when he was stopped by two Watonga police officers.

One cop said, “I thought it was a little odd that they were just walking around.”

“Walking around is a little bit suspicious?” “Yes,” Sexton said.

“Technically not really,” the police officer answered, “but it is still pretty early in the morning.” I was interested in what was going on.

Then the other office asked Sexton to show their ID.

He said, “I don’t need to show my ID.”

Yes, Sexton is right. “Stop and identify” states, where police can ask people for their names, are not allowed in Oklahoma. Even in those states, police need a good reason to think the person is involved in a crime.

Still, cops all over the country continue to abuse their power and arrest people for simply exercising their rights. So, in 2022, two Florida sheriff’s officers were demoted for arresting a man who was legally blind and refused to show his ID.

The Watonga offices look just as clueless. Someone tells Sexton that he will be arrested and jailed for not identifying himself “because I know you’ve been walking around here at 5:30 in the morning.”

He answered, “Yeah, we do that.”

“No, you’re not.” “Give me your ID,” the police officer said.

Sexton said he forgot his ID at home and said again, right, that Oklahoma doesn’t need him to show ID.

The police officer then tried to arrest Sexton, but he pulled away and used his phone to try to record what was happening. The police officer then grabbed Sexton and threw him to the ground while Sexton’s little boy started to cry.

Sexton was held for a short time and then let go without being charged. Since then, he has filed a complaint with the Watonga Police Department. Residents are furious that the body camera video of the incident was made public.

Travis Daugherty, the sheriff of Blaine County, told KOCO News that his office got more than 200 calls about the event. Daugherty also said that one of the officers involved used to work as a deputy in his office but was demoted and then left to work for the Watonga Police Department.

He had lost the trust of the people who worked for him as their boss. Yes, so I took him back down later,” Daugherty said.

Police disciplinary records are not kept in one place, and background checks are not done well, so problem officers move from department to department, leaving a trail of complaints and cases behind them.

Daugherty also wrote to people in the area asking them to demand that the cops be put on leave until the investigation was over.

“This is not a matter of me deciding if they are guilty or not; this is for the citizens to know that somebody is listening, and I hope to bring peace of mind and put citizens at ease to know that Watonga is doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the Blaine County Citizens,” Daugherty wrote. “I feel the best course of action now is to remove these officers from the equation until the District Attorney’s Office and city leaders decide what the best outcome will be.”

The City of Watonga said in a press release on July 29 that it knew about Sexton’s report and that the police chief had asked the OSBI to look into it. It wouldn’t say anything until the review was over.

“As part of our commitment to integrity, we take any allegations seriously and are committed to transparency and accountability in our operations,” the release says. “Until the investigation is complete, and while following state law related to personnel matters, we will refrain from providing additional comments to preserve the integrity of the process.”

At the same time, Sexton told local news sites that the event had caused his son a lot of trauma.

Sexton told KOCO News, “For Halloween the last two years, he’s been a police officer.” “That’s what he wants to be when he grows up.” He says that, and now he’s scared of them.