FRANKFORT — A video shows a Jay County sheriff's deputy driving dangerously fast ... and pulling over the man who said he wanted to hold law enforcement accountable.
The deputy, Derek Bogenshutz, is facing consequences for what he was caught doing on camera.
"So why don't you get down the road, do the speed limit and next I catch you speeding, I will give you a citation," Deputy Bogenshutz is seen saying in the video.
Anthony Cunningham was driving home from work when a sheriff's deputy vehicle passed him.
"Policing the police, just making sure somebody keeps him in check," Cunningham said he was doing while taking the video. "You see him fly past me. He didn't use a turn signal when he passed me."
Cunningham decided to follow Deputy Bogenshutz, and then they started to pick up speed.
"Somebody has to watch this guy because clearly he's doing something he should be," Cunningham said. "We're doing 50 in a 30, 60 in a 40. At one point in time, we get up to 90 in a 55. Like, that's just insane."
Cunningham admits he was breaking the law by speeding to follow the deputy.
"I fully accept that," he said. "I know I'm in the wrong."
The deputy was driving through Frankfort, nearly 90 miles from Portland, Ind. where the Jay Count Sheriff's Office is headquartered.
"He had no lights on. Nothing. Clearly, he had enough time, as you saw in the video, to pull me over," Cunningham said.
Chief Deputy Patrick Wells of the Jay County Sheriff's Office said Deupty Bogenshutz was in the area for training.
Cunningham continued to follow him until Deputy Bogenshutz — 90 miles from home — pulled him over. Cunningham thinks he knows why.
"The reason he pulled me over is was I flipping him off," Cunningham said.
The following exchange occurred after Deputy Bogenshutz pulled Cunningham over.
Deputy Bogenshutz: "What's your problem?"
Cunningham: "Name and badge number."
Deputy Bogenshutz: "You don't need that. What's your problem."
Deputy Bogenshutz: "You're going 90 miles an hour."
Cunningham: "And you're not?'
Deputy Bogenshutz: "Ninety miles an hour under the road."
Cunningham: "And you're not?"
The video was reviewed as part of an internal investigation by the Jay County Sheriff's Office.
"He needs to be held to a higher standard than the average person would," Cunningham said.
Chief Deputy Wells said Deputy Bogenshutz was given a reprimand that includes a five-day unpaid leave and a 30-day suspension of his take-home car privileges. The behavior depicted in the videos is not the type of behavior that is tolerated by the Jay County Sheriff's Office.
"Always record interactions with police because we have to keep them in check just as much as they keep us in check," Cunningham said.
Jay County deputies are allowed to use their take-home cars outside the county for functions like training. The sheriff's office said that's why Deputy Bogenshutz was in Frankfort. The dash cam shows a passenger in his car, which is permitted, according to the sheriff's office protocol.
