An attorney for the OHP's union played an edited version of a controversial dashcam video for reporters this week, in response to charges by another attorney that the recording he had been supplied with had "skips" during critical parts.
Trooper's association attorney Gary James would not allow reporters a closer examination of the copy, which a Louisiana motorist claims contain OHP trooper Rocky Northcutt yelling profanities during a traffic stop.
The motorist, Latisha White, is now being charged by Carter County prosecutors with perjury after she reported the profanity-laced encounter.
Lance McCrary, a Muskogee attorney who represents White in the felony case, has maintained that the traffic-stop video he was provided is flawed and has "skips" in it.
"To say there are skips and jumps, . . . that's why there are counters," James said.
But without some reference to show that the video is synchronized with the audio (such as moving lips or a car door slamming) a counter on the video track is worthless as evidence that the recording hasnt been tampered with. With the proliferation of PC-based editing software, an audio track can be edited separately from the video track with ease, while the video track (and the tape counter) would betray no signs of the adulteration.
White was following her sister the evening of Sept 3, 2006 when Northcutt cut between them, according to the statement White filed.
When White's vehicle stopped behind Norcutt's, the former National Trooper Of The Year allegedly jumped out screaming "I did not f***ing pull you over! You do not pull behind an officer! Get the f*** out of here now!" White wrote in the complaint.
She then reportedly apologized, saying she was following her sister.
Northcutt replied, according to White's sworn statement: "I don't f***ing care. Get the f*** out of here now!"
James refused to give reporters a copy of his version of the recording, and the Tulsa World reported James saying the official Department of Public Safety video of the traffic stop isn't accessible through the state's Open Records Act.
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