Off-Duty California Cop Pulls Gun on Guy Buying Mentos

How is it that a man trying to make a purchase of Mentos—you know, the freshmaker—ends up with an off-duty police officer drawing his gun? Who knows, but it happened to Jose Arreola in Buena Park, Calif., and two months later, he’s still looking for answers.

Arreola was at a Chevron gas station, and minutes before entering, he took money out of the ATM to buy the mints. As he was finishing up his transaction at the register and getting his change back from his purchase, the man standing behind him pulled his gun and said he was a police officer.

The recently released surveillance footage shows Arreola raising his hands and looking confused as to why the cop had his weapon pulled. The officer told him to put the money and Mentos down. After a few moments, the cashier explained to the cop that Arreola did indeed pay for the mints.

“It’s been a month and I still can’t shake it,” Arreola told the Orange County Register. “It was traumatic, the whole incident.”

Arreola also said: “He was so arrogant and cocky, because he holds a badge—because he’s a cop. We just feel like we can’t trust cops no more. I’ve seen a lot of videos of cops mistreating people, but I never thought it would happen to me. I just feel disappointed.”

In a Facebook post, Buena Park Police Chief Corey Sianez said, “We were aware of this incident after it occurred and we immediately began conducting an administrative investigation into the conduct of the officer involved.”