A
UK student's video of campus police entering his dorm room went viral after he posted it to Youtube.
(Note: video link contains profanity.)
The student, Graham Gaddis, spoke briefly about why he made it.
"Something happened that I thought was kind of funny.. I was like, wow, I should probably record this. And then I sneakily recorded it," said Gaddis.
In the video, Gaddis stood at his dorm room door, cursing at UK police and arguing with them that they couldn't come in.
"So if you don't need a warrant, then why aren't you in my room right now?" said the UK student in the video.
A witness who said he saw it firsthand said it lasted much longer than the nearly seven-minute video.
"It was about a 30-minute dispute...and the cops kept angrily wanting their way in. And Graham said, basically, 'I'm not letting you in without a warrant'," recalled Jacob Stogsdill.
Things came to a head in the video when a UK police corporal forced his way into the dorm room, shoving Gaddis.
Police said it was that inappropriate physical contact that got Corporal David Thompson fired.
Thompson refused to comment on the situation.
Gaddis, however, was quite vocal.
"I'm pretty...I guess I'm excited about it. He, uh, I guess he just...violated my rights," said the student.
And as to how Gaddis felt about the whole situation...
"I mean, I wasn't the nicest guy to them...but I did it for a reason. First time I dealt with cops here, they told me when I was nice about it...they told me they were gonna beat me up," he said.
UK police said Thompson has been in the department since 2006, and he hasn't had any behavior like this in the past.
The student initially posted the video after he said the officers violated his rights after they entered his dorm room without a search warrant. Campus police said they saw alcohol being poured out of the student's video and went to inspect the room to see if there was any more alcohol.
University housing policy dictates that school personnel
are permitted to enter a student's room without permission.
As to whether any action would be taken against Gaddis, UK officials--citing federal law--refused to release any information.
