Philadelphia Police Officer Caught Soliciting For Fundraiser Tickets While Dropping Homophobic Slurs

Recording incidents with the police, even during mandatory traffic stops, seems to be the best thing to do. Just ask Rob Stay Faded, who was able to record a police officer who asked him to buy tickets to a fundraiser… or else.

When Faded was stopped for his unregistered car, Officer Matthew Zagursky whipped out tickets and told him to support the police department by purchasing the tickets at $10 a piece.

As seen in the video, Zagursky says, “Either you buy these, or I take your car because it’s unregistered.”

You can view the video here.

Faded gives in and a transaction occurs. However, that’s not all that Officer Zagursky said. According to a report by CNET, another video taken by Faded shows Zagursky asking about Faded’s wipers, which he called “fa**ot a** wipers.”

Faded answered by saying, “Breast cancer man, my grandmom went through it.”

Zagursky then said, “Breast cancer I can understand. But can’t you support it another way? You like a fruitcake.”

We can assume that Faded’s windshield wipers were pink, which is the color for breast cancer awareness. The video is posted here.

Both videos were uploaded by Faded on his own Facebook profile page. As of writing, the first video has 966,000 views, while the second one has 52,000 views.

After the videos of Zagursky were made public, Charles Ramsey, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, took Zagursky off of street patrol and also confiscated his gun.

According to Ramsey, as reported by Philly, Zagursky is a 32-year-old nine-year veteran whose illegal actions caused embarrassment to the police force.

An internal affairs probe has been started on the incident, and while it is ongoing, Zagursky will continue to work with the force.

The tickets Officer Zagursky was selling were for an October 10 fundraising event called Hero Thrill show in support of the police and fire departments. Though they want to raise funds for a good cause, Ramsey said that officers selling the tickets should not force anyone to buy them. Because of the incident with Zagurskey and Faded, Ramsey put out a memo to all the members of the force.

“We encourage the support of the police and fire Hero Thrill Show. Remember, however, all ticket sales should be totally voluntary, and under no circumstances should someone feel under duress during a ticket exchange.”

While some commented on the videos supporting Faded’s decision to release the videos, some are calling out Faded for his actions, too.

One Facebook user wrote, “Why pay the money to keep your car then throw the cop under the bus? Cop would’ve gotten in just as much trouble had he not accepted and still uploaded it. You except [sic] the favor and then rat? That ain’t cool.”

What do you think of this incident? Do you think Faded was right to purchase the tickets and upload the videos? Share your comments below.

[Image via Facebook video screenshot]