OHMYGOSSIP — Richard Madeley thought he would be killed by a police officer when he was pulled over for speeding in the US.
The 64-year-old television presenter was driving at 10mph over the speed limit when he was pulled over by police, and has claimed he was almost shot after he got out of his car because he thought it would be “arrogant” of him to stay inside the vehicle.
Writing in his column for the Daily Express newspaper, he recalled: “I once came terrifyingly close in America to so-called ‘death by cop’.
“I was trundling along the freeway at a steady 60, unaware that the speed limit had dropped to 50 now we were inside the city limits. Red flashing lights and the ‘WHOOP-WHOOP’ of a pursuing police patrol car signalled that I should pull over. Being a polite Englishman abroad, once I’d stopped, I opened the driver’s door to meet the officer on equal terms in the sweltering mid-August desert heat. I instinctively felt it would appear arrogant to sit inside my lovely air-conditioned cabin while he sweated on the Tarmac outside. (sic)”
But Richard realised he’d made the wrong call when he was immediately told to get back in the car or risk being shot.
He continued: “Bad decision. As I walked towards the mirrored-sunglasses-wearing patrolman, he stiffened, dropped into a semi-crouch, slapped his gun holster and screamed: ‘BACK IN THE CAR! BACK IN THE F****** CAR! NOW!’
“I saw him thumb the holster’s cover back and caress the pistol’s handle.
“I got back in the car. Very quickly. (sic)”
The ‘This Morning’ legend went on to explain the cop had assumed Richard was going to shoot him by getting out of his car, as officers are trained to see it “as a threat”.
And Richard believes that if he was shot that day, the officer would not have been charged with the killing.
He wrote: “Seeing my trauma, he let me off the speeding ticket. I remember that close encounter with a Glock special whenever I hear or read about ‘death by cop’ incidents in America.
“In a society so in thrall to entrenched gun lore, this sort of thing is inevitable.
“I’m sure that if I’d been shot that desert day, the cop would have been exonerated.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online
Find us also on Facebook @Ohmygossip.com