Cop smashes car window

Vancouver police say a YouTube video of an officer smashing the window of a car he had just pulled over doesn't tell the whole story.

The video, posted three days ago by user Bodhi Sattva, the driver of the car, has had more than 29,000 views.

It shows a confrontational officer saying: “Hit the brakes, moron,” while the driver asks why he’s been pulled over.

“I’m not playing this game,” the officer says, ordering him to open his door.

Further into the 90-second video, the officer says he smells marijuana, and that the driver is under arrest. The driver disputes this, and refuses to open the door.

When the driver doesn’t comply, the officer warns that he'll smash the window – and within seconds he does so, before pulling the driver from the vehicle.

Lawyer Paul Doroshenko told CTV the video is evidence of “police officers behaving like thugs.”

“You’ve got somebody pulled over at the roadside, you have an obligation to tell them why you’re detaining them," he said.

But the VPD says the video doesn’t show the whole encounter.

“The video obviously does not show the entire contact between police and the driver,” Const. Brian Montague told CTV in a statement. “Our officers would not have had to use any force had the driver simply complied with the officers’ directions."

The driver was given a roadside sobriety exam, but was not charged with impaired driving. Police say the drugs that were found inside the car is what got the driver in trouble. He faces a number of charges.

The driver has not responded to interview requests.

– with files from CTV Vancouver