The Omaha Police Department’s internal investigation regarding the traffic stop of boxer Terence “Bud” Crawford is nearing its end, according to police officials.
OPD Chief Todd Schmaderer told reporters it was determined the officers involved in the traffic stop acted in accordance with department policy. He also said the bodycam footage will not be released as of now, citing privacy concerns and the potential for it to be used in court and that Crawford is currently on a trip abroad in Saudi Arabia and has not been successfully reached for interviewed by OPD.
Schmaderer described what he saw while reviewing the police bodycam footage.
“When he [Officer Mason Gregurich] made first contact with Mr. Crawford, it was, it was very cordial contact. Mr. Crawford made reference to the vehicle was very fast, implied that it had gotten away from him. Officer Gregory’s first words were, but that is so unsafe,” said Schmaderer. “Now, when he got him out at gunpoint, he did give sterner commands at that point, but it wasn’t anything that would rise to a level of being out of our policy concerns. He took control at that point.”
The two officers involved in the incident were Officer Mason Gregurich and Officer James Valencia. Schmaderer said after reviewing the footage from bodycams, the cruiser’s dashcam and from cameras around the scene, the story Gregurich and Valencia told was corroborated.
LB 77, a law that allows for the no-permit concealed carry of firearms, was said to have made this routine traffic stop, as well as others before it, more difficult. The stop under investigation found Crawford legally carrying a concealed firearm, but due to Gregurich not hearing when Crawford declared he was legally carrying, the whole car was emptied at gunpoint.
Schmaderer said the department accepts accountability and will be implementing further training into how to better de-escalate situations like this in the future.
“I’m seeing way too many stops involving firearms, as it relates to legal firearms under LB 77 and that poses a challenge,” said Schmaderer. “
He broke down what OPD plans on doing into three steps.
“One, we’re looking at changing our policy manual,” Schmaderer said. “Right now, when you go up to a vehicle, officer ask for license, registration and insurance, we are considering adding, is there a legal firearm under LB 77 in this vehicle? The second one Omaha police officers will go through training on traffic stops scenario based training, specifically as it may relate to LB 77 and how we want to handle that.”
He said they will provide examples, framework and suggestions for how to handle these types of stops.
“The third one is, in cooperation with the mayor’s office, we want to provide a comprehensive plan on our traffic stops involving firearms,” Schmaderer said. “One of the things that we want to do with the mayor’s office is get a good accounting of how many times we do bring people out of the car at gunpoint. That data piece is nebulous at this point.”
When asked about the issue of racial profiling, Schmaderer said African Americans do get stopped more by law enforcement.
“The other piece to this particular stop was the symbolism that African American community is stopped more by law enforcement, and then when stopped more by law enforcement is pulled out at gunpoint, more than the, disproportionate to the other classes and races in our society. And that, quite frankly, the answer to that is that is generally a true statement, that the number of stops are disproportionate, and you will see that nationwide.”
A 2024 study from the Center for Policing Equity, as well as a 2019 study from Stanford University corroborate that black drivers are more likely to be pulled over, as well as exposure to police force.
Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr. was also in attendance and mentioned that LB 77 is disproportionately affecting Omaha.
“I certainly would be open to any attempts to repeal the law or to carve out an exemption for the city of Omaha or metropolitan areas,” said Ewing. I would be very supportive of trying to remove this or carve out an exception for the city of Omaha, because I want to keep the members of this community safe. That’s my number one responsibility as mayor, to work with the police department to make sure we have a safe community.”
When asked what is left to do within the investigation, Schmaderer said there are a few more people they are looking to interview, but that the outcome will likely not change.
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