Winfield Police officer Sean Skov – who was seen in a Facebook Live traffic-stop video that garnered national attention and some intense criticism – is no longer with the police department, multiple sources confirmed to NewsCow-KSOK.
Details of Skov’s abrupt departure have yet to be made public. Winfield city manager Jeremy Willmoth said, late Thursday, that he could not discuss the issue because it was a personnel matter.
A source who spoke with Newscow-KSOK, on the condition their name not be used, said they were upset by how Skov was treated.
“Basically, the pressure of the national media attention became too much,” the source said. “Someone had to be offered up. And it was Sean.”
Skov was a veteran officer with more than 10 years of service, first with the Cowley County Sheriff’s Dept. and then Winfield police.
On the afternoon of May 13, a Sunday, Jeremy “Rudy” Samuel went live to Facebook with video of a traffic stop in Winfield. Samuel said he was told the initial stop was for failing to properly use his turn signal.
Samuel, 31, questioned police about the validity of the stop and the officer’s decision to search his car. Police told Samuel he was being detained so the search could take place.
Justification for the search, Skov explained in the video, was “vegetation” that could be seen on the window sill of Samuel’s car. Samuel described the vegetation as simply “tree stuff.”
No drugs were found and Samuel was released with two warnings, one for the turn signal violation and the other for open container. No case was formally opened on the matter.
On Facebook, Samuel said he believed the search should not have happened and that police should not have reached in the car to power off his phone.
City and police officials had been conducting an investigation into the incident. Those findings have not been made public, thus far.
The original Facebook Live video went on to be viewed more than 110,000 times. The story has circulated at several nationally-recognized news services.
Peter Wright – a founder of the social activism group Freedom 1 – said his organization is serving as a spokesperson for Samuel. He said the group plans a protest at Winfield’s Island Park June 2.
He called Skov’s departure from the police department “a great start.”
Because Samuel is black, there have been accusations of racial profiling as a result of the video. Wright admitted the footage made him wonder if racial profiling was a factor in the traffic stop, but he and Samuel, he said, want to focus on a bigger issue.
“White, black, blue, green, it doesn’t matter,” Wright said. “We want this to stop for everybody. We want the police to deal with everyone fairly and legally. We know people of all races have had these type of issues.”
NewsCow-KSOK has received no info thus far on the status of a second officer seen in the video.
