Rock Hill police officer fired after pulling gun during traffic stop for seat belt violation

ROCK HILL, S.C. — A Rock Hill police officer is out of a job after pulling his gun during a traffic stop -- for what was supposedly a seat belt violation.

The 22-year-old man’s mother captured the incident on camera, saying she was glad to learn the Rock Hill chief made the move to fire the officer. The incident happened last Friday. By Wednesday, the officer had been dismissed.

Cameron Kirby was one of the most active members on the Rock Hill force. But sources tell reporter Glenn Counts that he’s out of a job there.

The Rock Hill Police Department put out a statement confirming the incident, but not naming the officer or confirming the officer had been terminated.

The mother of the victim said Kirby pulled up into the driveway at their home after following her son for a short time. She told Counts she believed she was watching the final moments of her son’s life.

“I had to keep calm, because I wanted to make sure my son was safe,” the mother said. “I was trying to talk to this cop … asking him what’s going on, is the gun necessary?”

Sources tell Channel 9 Officer Kirby called in and claimed that the young man was fighting and that there was a crowd gathering. After the police department reviewed his body camera footage, Kirby was pulled off his beat and subsequently fired.

Civil rights leader John Barnette joined the mother when she met with the chief about the incident.

“The video is so damaging that he needed to fire him immediately,” Barnette said. “This is the quickest I’ve ever seen it.”

The 22-year-old was initially charged with disorderly conduct, but those charges have since been dropped.

While the mother said she doesn’t harbor any ill will toward law enforcement in general, the incident still left she and her son traumatized.

“I never had a gun pointed at me, so to actually see that gun pointed at my son and in my direction, it has affected both of us,” she said.

Cox Media Group