Chicken-Fried News: Off-duty pointing

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Former Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Cecil Moss made local headlines recently when he was convicted of pointing a gun at someone while off duty.

KFOR.com reported that Moss was in the midst of a heated family argument with his grandchildren’s father in April 2015 when he “pointed [his] gun at Kurt Ward as he tried to drive away.”

Officers are traditionally trained to pull their weapons only in dangerous situations in which lives are at stake, and this incident didn’t pass muster.

“There were a lot of witnesses; a lot of credible people saw what had happened, and they didn’t feel that was right either,” Ward said.

Moss pleaded guilty in the case, and KFOR reported that he was quiet in the courtroom and after his sentencing. As part of his plea deal, he resigned from the Oklahoma City Police Department March 15. He received a deferred five-year sentence and two years of probation. CLEET (Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training) is reviewing the case and will decide if he will lose his certification.

“He’s lost his job and the career he worked so hard for, but that’s what happens when you let your emotions control your actions,” District Attorney David Prater told KFOR.

We would love it if OKC police officers stayed out of the media spotlight for a while or just ended up on the news for saving small children and cats from danger.

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